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BEST THOUGHTS 

OF 

BEST THINKERS 



AMPLIFIED, CLASSIFIED, EXEMPLIFIED AND ARRANGED 

AS A KEY TO UNLOCK THE LITERATURE 

OF ALL AGES 



BY 
HIALMKR D. GOULD, B. C. S., M. S. 

AND 

EDWARD L,. HESSENMUELLER, A. M., 1,1,. B. 
JOINT AUTHORS. 



What a piece of work is man ! How noble in reason ! How infinite in faculties ! 
In form and moving, how express and admirable ! In action how like an angel ! In 
apprehension, how like a god \— Shakespeare. \ 

Every man is a volume, if you know how to read him. — Charming, 

All great men are in some degree inspired.— Cicero* 



CLEVELAND 

aSest tEbougbt* pub.lfBbfng Company 

J904 






LIBKftRY of CONGRESS 
Two Oooles Received 

JUL 30 1904 

^ Ooovrteht Entry 
CLASS K XXc. No. 
COPY B 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1903, by 

HIAI.MER D. GOUIrfD 

and 

E. I*. HESSENMUEIyI,ER, 

In the Office of the librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 








INSCRIPTION. 

Will those who long for the refining companionship of the 
world's best specimens, of humanity, kindly accept this tribute 
as a special letter of introduction to the hundreds of authors 
herein quoted. 

Every author desires to be known and appreciated, or he 
would not be an author. Take his thoughts as an index of his 
manhood, and be assured that your pleasure in his acquaint- 
ance, thus formed, is only equaled by his delight to instruct 
and interest you. 

May your joyous friendship continue forever. 

" A great writer is the friend and benefactor of his read- 
ers." — Macaulay. 

" Next to doing things that deserve to be written, nothing 
gets a man more credit, or gives him more pleasure, than to 
write things that deserve to be read." — Chesterfield. 



FOREWORD. 

Reader, did you ever visit ah art gallery and study the 
people who are studying the pictures? If so, you must have 
noticed how differently the different observers are affected 
by the same views, and how indifferent many are to the scenes 
of beauty around them. But let the most unappreciative spec- 
tator be joined by an artist friend who will analyze and ex- 
plain the principles of art exemplified on the canvas, and im- 
mediately the dullest spectator is all attention, the stupid gaze 
is replaced by a look of intense interest, and the whole counte- 
nance becomes radiant with the expression of enjoyment 
received through the understanding. 

From one canvas the artist explains different methods of 
grouping and effects of position; from another, perhaps, the 
principles of perspective are most clearly elucidated; a third 
furnishes ^finer illustration of color treatment, as complement- 
ary tints are introduced by a master hand, and contrast and 
definition are in proper balance. And so by noting a back- 
ground here and a foreground there, high lights, in one view 
and mezzotints in another, a few illustrations serve as a key 
to unlock the treasures of the whole studio, and our supposed 
spectator becomes thereafter an appreciative attendant at every 
art exhibition within reach. Verily, there is no entertainment 
that entertains like instruction that really does, instruct. 

Now, literature is the art gallery of thought, 161 and lan- 
guage is the medium of expressing it. Ideas are the same in art 
or literature, but in one case they are painted in colors, while 
in the other case they are portrayed in words. The best 
thoughts of the best thinkers, as recorded in ancient and 
modern literature, are open to our inspection in all the libra- 
ries of the land. The problem before us is how to make the 
masses appreciate more fully the mental pictures which con- 



VI BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

stitute the literature they read. Words have so many shades 
of meaning that all the tones and tints ever transferred to 
canvas are far less difficult of comprehension than are the 
powers of expression inherent in a good vocabulary. Not only 
does word after word require careful scrutiny, and the full 
sentence demand an effort of the understanding, but as we 
proceed with our mental digestion of one proposition after 
another, we find our judgment appealed to in one case, our 
sensibilities in another; our will is sought to be influenced, 
sometimes through the undertanding, sometimes through the 
emotions; our intellect assents or dissents, our feelings ac- 
cept or reject, our conscience approves or disapproves, and 
thus the whole mind is brought into* action in the weighing 
of evidence and the detection of fallacies, with the result that 
the heart responds like a harp of a thousand strings, evoking 
the divinest harmonies or the most terrible discords according 
to the nature of the thoughts submitted for our consideration. 

It is the purpose of the authors of this volume to place 
upon the following pages for the reader's consideration the 
best thoughts of the best thinkers on many very different sub- 
jects, and by occasional suggestions and comments so gradu- 
ally to instil the principles of rhetoric, logic, mental phil- 
osophy, moral philosophy, etc., without any formal use of the 
technical terms of any science, as to lead almost insensibly to 
a full comprehension of the essential elements of high grade 
literature. The facts and information herein presented are, 
we trust, worthy of the most careful perusal for their own 
sake; but taken as exemplary -samples, they collectively fur- 
nish the key to a better understanding of all literature, both 
as to thought and the expression of thought. 

The best thinkers do not always express themselves in the 
best language, and therefore the best thoughts of the best 
thinkers are not always masterpieces of eloquence. Usually a 
fair degree of ability of expression goes with any marked 
degree of thought power, but then, there are some splendid 
rhetorical expressions that contain only a small amount of 
mental food. Our aim is to reach both, but preferably the 
ability to apprehend the thought and test the validity of the 



FOREWORD. Vll 

argument, rather than to criticise the manner of presenting 
it; and we aim to reach this result by such insensible grada- 
tions as will not require any extra effort on the part of the 
reader. 

While many masterpieces of classic literature have been 
quoted, it will be noticed that a large percentage of our mater- 
ial has been selected from the public press. The newspaper 
or magazine is the educator of the masses, and in order to do 
the most good to the greatest number, we have drawn largely 
from this source, both recent and remote. Neither do we 
lose anything of power, eloquence or variety by so doing; 
and as to reminiscences, there is nothing equal to an old 
newspaper, or its better elements crystallized into an old scrap 
book, to touch the heart with fervent glow, or bring to mind 
with vivid force the days of Auid Lang Syne. 



PLAN OF THE WORK. 

Our title-page calls for " Best Thoughts of Best 
Thinkers, Amplified, Classified, Exemplified, and Ar- 
ranged as a Key to unlock the Literature of All Ages." 
At first thought, it seems like a prodigious task to make 
one book a key to the better understanding of all others; 
but modern methods have revolutionized other fields of labor, 
and why not the field of literature. Surprises greet us from 
all sides, and the accomplishment of the above educational 
result is no less a surprise to the reader of our book. Euclid 
said, " There is no royal road to learning " (geometry, in the 
original), but by the unique method of editing this volume, 
it is not too much to claim that any person who will read it 
and make all the references required just as he would read any 
other book, will, without the drudgery of schoolboy methods, 
become qualified to appreciate, understand and even criticise 
all other books (except the most technical), as only a thorough 
scholar can do. 

how WE do IT. 

First, we introduce a chapter on the " Philosophy of Ex- 
pression," which contains the cream of all the elements involved 
in the communication of thought by language or otherwise, 
and a lucid illustration of each principle is given therewith. 
That opens the way. 

Secondly, we quote from the best thinkers, ancient and 
modern, the very best thoughts they have given to the world, 
and we so select these quotations that each is suited to amplify 
and enlarge upon the views of some other writer on the same 
or kindred subjects. Thus we make great authors amplify 
each other. We also have secured from many of the leading 
thinkers now living, original articles written especially for 
this volume, and in harmony with the authors' plan of ampli- 
fying the work left to posterity, and bringing the subject up 



/ 



X BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

to date. These special essays also demonstrate the fact that, 
with rare exceptions, if any, no greater authors ever lived 
than live now. 

Thirdly, we classify under appropriate heads the most 
reliable information to be obtained on a very wide range of sub- 
jects, and in this way make the book a veritable mine of 
thought, some part of which will be intensely interesting to any 
one, and all parts to most people. Thus the matter included 
is of the highest value for its own sake, without the unique 
features of literary criticism. 

Fourthly, we prepare as a supplement, a Symposium 
of the Principles of Literature, comprising a complete analysis 
of Rhetoric, Logic, Mental Philosophy, Moral Science, Phi- 
lology, Anthropology, and other branches pertaining to the ex- 
pression of thought, and each one of all this accumulation of 
terms, is defined in popular language. They are then numbered 
seriatim, and made to serve as a key to unlock the literary gems 
given throughout the volume, by simply sprinkling reference 
figures all through the text, referring the reader to the Sym- 
posium. The Symposium notes and defines the principle in- 
volved, and every portion of the text referring thereto exem- 
plifies that principle. 

Technical terms have been handled in a popular way, and 
it has been kept steadily in mind that the book is intended for 
the masses. The divisions of the book are logical and compre- 
hensive, and each is supplied with suitable articles, both in prose 
and poetry, serious and humorous, in addition to which the 
whole volume is highly seasoned with laconics, many of which 
are made illustrative of some principle of literature in its 
many-phased task of expressing thought. 

We ask the reader's careful attention to quotation marks, 
that credit may be given to us as authors for only that which is 
original. For the gems, of thought so aptly expressed by the 
hundreds of authors quoted, we have provided only the ap- 
propriate setting, and for the flowers of poesy bound in these 
leaves, of literature, we have contributed only their harmonious 
arrangement according to color of sentiment, and furnished 
the silken cord to retain them. 176 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF EXPRESSION. 

Note. — The following is a lecture delivered by the Joint Author, Professor 
Hialmer D. Gould, before various colleges and popular audiences, and it is introduced 
here as the most fitting method of opening the way for the unique treatment given 
to the subject matter throughout this volume. The advantage of the references to 
the Symposium will be greatly enhanced by a careful consideration of the Philosophy 
of Expression as here set forth, and an occasional re-reference from the Symposium 
to the examples herein cited may be made with much benefit. 



My Friends, you noticed that I hesitated for a moment 
before speaking. What was your expression, and what mine, 
at that moment ? Simply this : By rising and coming forward, 
I expressed intention. You, by your silence and look of ex- 
pectancy, expressed attention. There is tendon on the part of 
both, but mine is positive or active; yours negative or passive. 
1 am to give ; you are to receive. Kindly continue this passive 
but thoughtful attention that you may receive all that I intend 
to give. 

Let us now, in fancy, take a short excursion down the 
street, to note the various expressions that may come under our 
observation. That aged man, though walking erectly, bows 
his head slightly forward. That head is not empty — that 
heart is not vain. His tread is firm, his carriage dignified, ex- 
pressing the fact that he has not wasted his strength in riot- 
ous living. His clear complexion shows temperance, his open 
countenance shows honesty, and his clean cut features express 
refinement. He crosses the street and his glance toward the 
approaching car means caution. We might follow this one 
man for hours, and find some new expression shot forth from 
his being as each new incident arrests his attention. But let 
us study the incidents ourselves. 

A brutal driver belabors his stubborn mule, and each is 
fast making the other worse. A spectator shouts a warning 
note and the cudgel is dropped. A kill-sheep dog sneaks by. 
He knows that he has done wrong, and he sneaks by, head and 



2 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

tail hanging low. All the other dogs give chase. Even dogs 
understand that expression. A flock of children come pouring 
from the schoolhouse. Some show fight, some show fear. How 
do they show it ? One little girl dries her own tears and strug- 
gles bravely to console her smaller sister — sympathy, forti- 
tude; the stuff that heroes are made of. The confidence man 
buncoes the farmer and then " divvies up " with his pal — 
honor among thieves. The Mayor tells the police captain not 
to know too much about a certain dive — ignorance in high 
places. You see yonder couple, and you say they are lovers. 
You feel sure you have sized them up correctly. But how do 
you know they are lovers? You say they act spooney. But 
what is it to act spooney? Alas, nearly all expressions are 
more easily recognized than described. We can read the 
character denoted by the actions, but we can't always spell out 
the elements that constitute the acta. 

Even language plays us false ; the same word being some- 
times literal, sometimes figurative, sometimes technical, some- 
times common parlance, sometimes downright slang. Some- 
times the skater skates, and the drunkard staggers; but the 
next moment you may be confronted by some poor skater 
who is, making a stagger at it, and an otherwise poor drunk- 
ard who has got a skate on him. 

The lightning struck a tree; the ship struck her colors; 
the soldiers struck their tents; the laborers struck for higher 
wages; the robbers struck for tall timber; an idea struck a 
philosopher; the miner struck pay dirt; the show struck the 
town; my erstwhile acquaintance struck me for a dollar; the 
actress is stage struck, and the dandy is struck on himself. 

Besides the expressions of language and expressions of 
countenance and of actions, we must consider expressions of 
inanimate objects. Thus the oak tree expresses sturdy strength, 
while the vine entwined around it expresses dependence. The 
rocky bluff expresses boldness and durability; the mountains, 
grandeur. And so the list might be extended indefinitely, 
for everything expresses something. 

In this rambling way, we might go on for hours, noting 
expressions and their meaning; but unless we seek for some 



PHILOSOPHY OF EXPRESSION. 3 

principle of classification, and arrange our knowledge accord- 
ing to some method or system, we shall be wholly unable to 
appreciate and use properly the knowledge we have gained. 
All our inquiries merely result in an accumulation of facts and 
fancies — a mass of expression, but no philosophy. 

Now the basic principle of classification for every subject 
that will admit of its use is the principle of cause and effect. 
We ask why this, and why that, and why the other, until by 
continued interrogations we have discovered similar causes 
for various effects. All the sciences have been built up in that 
way. Science is simply classified knowledge. 459 Every 
philosopher who has thoroughly investigated any branch of 
human knowledge has grown into a human interrogation- 
point. A scientist is personified quiz. 

Following this lead, we now seek to discover the philos- 
ophy of expression. We have already noted that every person 
and every thing expresses something, and we are not long in 
observing that some objects express many things; and finally 
we note, what is very important in this connection, that objects 
do not express the same thing to all persons. Two persons wit- 
ness the same occurrence, and one of them may receive an en- 
tirely different impression from that received by the other. 
This leads us to inquire into the matter subjectively, as well as 
objectively. If the object is the same and the impression is dif- 
ferent in two different persons who are brought under the in- 
fluence of that object, it is manifest that there must be a differ- 
ence in the subjects. We then take another step backward in 
the chain of causation, and ask ourselves why an object does 
make any impression at all. Also, why does a person, as a sub- 
ject, receive any impression at all. The basis of all human 
knowledge is, therefore, the starting point from which to dis- 
cover the philo«ophy of expression. There could be no such 
thing as £#pression without the existence of beings capable of 
receiving impressions. This presents both the objective and 
the subjective view of the question. 

Since all expression, to be intelligible, must be reducible 
to some form of human thought, it is evident that the science 
which deals with the formal laws of human thought is our 



4 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

basis. Logic 433 is that science. Furthermore, logic shows, 
as other mental sciences also show, that human knowledge con- 
sists of comparisons. We begin by comparing some two ideas 
and we have a subject and a predicate — the simplest express- 
ion possible and the simplest form of stating it. Without go- 
ing into tedious details, let me add that all human knowledge, 
however complicated, however profound, is but an aggrega- 
tion of comparisons. This being true, it is evidently the cri- 
terion by which we are to judge any system of philosophy that 
purports to explain the infinite variety of forms in which 
thought is expressed. 

We now proceed to test this principle. We shall cite a 
great variety off expressions — literal expressions, figurative 
expressions; weak expressions, forcible expressions; elegant 
expressions, and some that are not so elegant ; expressions with 
style and expressions without style; humorous expressions, 
witty expressions, slang expressions; expressions of thought, 
and expressions of feeling, or sentiment, or emotion ; express- 
ions of art, expressions of nature; expression in prose, ex- 
pression in poetry ; and every sample adduced shall be squared 
up by this all-pervading principle, comparison, and if all varie- 
ties or methods of expression will stand plumb on that founda- 
tion, we shall be warranted in the conclusion that we have 
discovered the true philosophy of expression? 

It will not be necessary to dwell long on literal express- 
ions. Two ideas are mentioned together and if they are found 
to harmonize, we assert one of the other. But how do we 
know they harmonize? Manifestly by comparing them. If 
our comparison discloses that they do not harmonize, we as- 
sert that one is not the other. In other words, when the sub- 
ject and the predicate are congruous we have an affirmative 
proposition; but when the subject and predicate are incon- 
gruous, we have a negative proposition. But how can we de- 
cide the question of congruity? Only by comparing one con- 
cept with the other. 

For example: Man is mortal; Iron is heavy; Snow is 
white; Man is not omnipotent; Iron is not transparent; Snow 
is not liquid. 



PHILOSOPHY OF EXPRESSION. 5 

In the negative propositions the subject and predicate 
are declared incongruous or unlike. When we compare two 
things and find a marked dissimilarity, we sometimes say .there 
is no comparison, and we call the result a contrast. The greater 
the difference along the same line of thought, the sharper the 
contrast. But how are we to know there is any contrast, until 
we try for comparison. This view of the matter brings out 
the fact that contrast is the result of comparison, but that re- 
sult is a negative quantity. In the equation of thought, 
Subject = Predicate, contrast is comparison with a minus sign 
before it. 

Logically, every sentence consists of two elements, and 
only two — the logical subject and the logical predicate. How- 
ever long the sentence, every word in it belongs to one or the 
other of these essential elements. Therefore all language, con- 
sidered as a mode of expression, is subject to this law of con- 
secutive thought; viz., comparison. 

But there are many forms of expression by language, 
wherein the words used are not to be taken in their plain or 
literal sense. The use of words in any other than their strictly 
literal sense is. called a figure of speech. It is also called a 
trope — ' that is, a turning away from the usual signification 
to some other meaning suggested by the connection in which 
it is used. There are many of these figures of speech, but we 
shall consider only the principal ones. 



First, Simile. This, as its name implies, is, the express- 
ion of similarity between two' objects of thought, with a view 
of explaining or embellishing the one by its association with 
the other. This figure is familiar to all and is used even by 
the untutored savage. Children delight in it as soon as they 
are capable of taking distinct notice of objects, and yet, the 
most accomplished composer never reaches, such heights of 
eloquence or flights of fancy that he cannot use the simile to 
advantage. 

To illustrate : I may say of a certain person, " His mem- 
ory is both quick and retentive." That is literal. But how 



6 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

much clearer, more forcible, and more agreeable is the express- 
ion if I say, " His, memory is like wax to receive impressions, 
and Mke marble to retain them." 

Now since Simile consists wholly in the making of a for- 
mal comparison, it is evident that we can use it in connection 
with any given idea in such a way as to exalt or debase that 
idea. We may make our subject appear splendid, or graceful, 
or clumsy, or refined, or coarse^ or humble, or proud, or digni- 
fied, or grand, according as we compare that subject with 
things that possess one or another of these qualities. Shake- 
speare says of a certain strain of music : 

It came o'er my ear like the sweet sound 
That breathes upon a bank of violets, 

Stealing and giving odor. 

The image of soft music is thus by comparison, associ- 
ated with something which gives it additional embellishment 
and charm. 

You have noticed that in all these examples we have used 
the word " like/' to effect a formal comparison. " Like," or 
its equivalent, is necessary, or it would not be a simile. 153 
The word " as," or " so," or " so as,," is sometimes substi- 
tuted for " like," but the idea is the same. 

Now take a case of degrading instead of ennobling. 
Butler burlesques Hudibras thus : 

'Tis known that he could speak Greek 
As naturally as pigs squeak; 
And Latin was no more difficile 
Than for a blackbird 'tis to whistle. 

He also burlesques the morning, thus: — 
The Sun had long since in the lap 
Of Thetis taken out his nap; 
And, like a lobster boiled, the morn 
From black to red began to turn. 

There are many rules for the use of the Simile in order 
to govern it in the wide range of thought to which it is adapted. 
We shall not dwell on these details or variations, but it is de- 
sirable that we get a clear conception of the general principle 
involved, because so many other figures, of speech are modi- 
fications or outgrowths of this one. 



PHILOSOPHY OP EXPRESSION. 7 

Thus Metaphor is a simile without the formal use of the 
word " like " or its equivalent. Instead of saying one thing 
is like another we say one is the other. 

Thus, " He upholds the state like a pillar which upholds 
an edifice," is a simile. " He is a pillar of state," is a metaphor. 
Another, — " As in passing through a prism, beams of white 
light are decomposed into the colors of the rainbow; so, in 
traversing the soul of the poet, the colorless rays of truth are 
transformed into bright-tinted Poetry." That is simile. The 
same ideas expressed in metaphor would be — " The white 
light of truth, in traversing the many-sided transparent soul 
of the poet, is refracted into iris-hued poetry." — (Herbert 
Spencer. ) 

Of course, we must be careful in using metaphor not to 
draw our comparisons from different sources in the same 
sentence. That would be mixing* metaphors. Religious peo- 
ple are apt to use scripture similes and metaphors in that care- 
less way. Thus a man once prayed that " The word which 
had been preached might be like a nail driven in a sure place, 
sending its roots downward* its branches upward, spreading 
itself like a green bay-tree, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, 
and terrible as an army with banners." 

Metaphors should not be multiplied to excess, but some- 
times the subject is such that one leading similarity can be 
carried out into a multitude of details and a whole story or 
book is constructed on the line of that one thought. Such a 
work is called an Allegory. Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress is a 
good example of Allegory. The 8oth Psalm is an allegory 
wherein Israel is represented as a vine that God brought out 
of Egypt and planted in Palestine. The comparison is ex- 
tended to numerous details, and yet Israel is not once men- 
tioned; the story of the vine is so aptly told that the reader 
easily understands it to be Israel. Another extended Allegory 
is The Faery Queen. 

Shorter compositions of this nature are called Fables, 
except that when they occur in the scriptures, they are called 
Parables. Many of these are familiar to you all. Thus, in 
the 9th chapter of Judges, Jotham tells the story of the 



8 BEST THOUGHTS OF" BEST THINKERS. 

trees choosing for themselves a King. This is a parable, but 
if the same story were told in the famous, works of ^Esop*, it 
would be termed a Fable. There are so many beautiful speci- 
mens which might be quoted, that it is hard to- refrain from 
indulging ourselves in that way; but if our time be devoted 
too much to specimens, we shall not get the philosophy. One 
simile that shows even more force than beauty is this : " A 
bigot's mind is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you 
pour into it, the more it contracts.'' 

In the next figure, Antithesis, we shall employ that 
phase of comparison known as contrast. The effect of con- 
trast in ideas is like putting two unlike things in juxtaposition. 
Black never appears so black, nor white so white as, when 
they are placed alongside each other. When viewed together, 
each heightens the effect of th£ other. The more alike in form, 
size and all other respects, except some one, the more striking 
the difference in that one respect. Therefore, contrasted ideas 
should have a similar verbal construction. For example, " If 
you regulate your desires according to the standard of nature, 
you will never be poor ; if according to the standard of opinion, 
you will never be rich." 

Many of the most effective examples of Antitithesis are 
short. Thus: — " Flattery brings friends; truth brings foes;" 
" Enemies in war, in peace, friends : " " Forewarned, fore- 
armed." 

Epigram is another figure containing contrariety. Thus : 
— " Conspicuous for its absence." " Beauty unadorned, 
adorned the most." " So many things are striking that noth- 
ing strikes." " Language is the art of concealing thought." 
Even this terse form of expressing many thoughts in a 
nutshell and at the same time adding force by contrast may 
be extended into a series, forming an abridged, epigrammatic 
allegory, thus : — 

War and love are strange compeers. 

War sheds blood, and love sheds tears; 

War has swords, and love has darts ; 

War breaks heads, and love breaks hearts. 






PHILOSOPHY OF EXPRESSION. 9 

We shall not have time to define and illustrate all the 
figures of speech, and must pass by many with a mere mention. 
Metonymy and Synecdoche are closely related, as are also 
Interrogation and Exclamation. Apostrophe is a power- 
ful figure, if the subject apostrophised has sufficient inherent 
sublimity to support the poetic forms of expression. Personi- 
fication attributes life to things inanimate; and these two, 
Apostrophe and Personification, often go together. I shall 
give you an original example of this when speaking of poetry. 
Hyperbole is a figure that consists merely of extravagant ex- 
aggeration. Thus we s.peak of " waves mountain high," and 
while no one expects that to be taken as literally true, it is an 
effective figure and manifestly depends upon comparison. 

The last figure we shall notice is Irony. It consists in 
ridiculing an object under pretence of praising it. To accom- 
plish this end effectively, the words should be spoken with a 
sneer. Job says, (12:2), "No doubt but ye are the people, 
and wisdom shall die with you." A modern Job would say 
" Huh ! You must think you're the only pebble on the beach !" 
Irony is too familiar to need further illustration. 

Now every expression of thought in language requires 
words and sentences, and may or may not use figures ; but the 
manner in which the expression is clothed is termed Style. 
Some have a labored style, some a florid style, some a forceful 
style. Some compositions are elegant, some stiff and clumsy. 
Some expressions are easy and graceful, some stately and dig- 
nified, some bold and defiant, some witty or humorous. Some 
clothe their thoughts in the silken robes of beauty; some in 
the homespun garments of utility; some in the humility of 
sackcloth and ashes. 95 151 

Perhaps the highest style of composition is the sublime. 
Sublimity is one of the highest emotions, 405 and the style of 
expression necessary to awaken that emotion in the hearer is 
correspondingly superior. There are many circumstances that 
conspire to awaken sublimity. Vastness, is one thing that in- 
duces a feeling of the sublime. Power is another. Also 



IO BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

awfulness, and sometimes obscurity tend to that result. Then 
there is a style of expression called beauty. Beauty tends to- 
ward the sublime but does not quite reach that altitude. Next 
to sublimity, beauty affords the highest pleasure to the taste; 
but it is also a calmer feeling, more gentle and soothing. 
Beauty is expressed in many ways. We have beautiful trees 
and flowers, beautiful forms and faces, a beautiful character, 
a beautiful theorem. There is beauty of color, and beauty of 
figure, and beauty of motion; beauty of countenance, and, 
last but not least, moral beauty. 456 

To be pronounced beautiful, however, the object under 
consideration must not awaken sublimity. A rose may be 
beautiful but who ever heard of a sublime rose. On the other 
hand, Niagara Falls is beautiful but it is more than beautiful — 
it is sublime. Its beauty is swallowed up in its sublimity. The 
higher emotion monopolizes the feelings, unless the attention 
is confined to some little details ; as a beautiful crest, a beauti- 
ful spray, a beautiful tint in the water, the beautiful rainbow 
in tne mist. Now the style of expression that will adequately 
describe beauty or awaken sublimity is peculiarly fitted for its 
task, and we shall refer to it again, after we have disposed of 
the next branch of our subject, namely, Wit and Humor. 

This brings us to a consideration of the philosophy of wit. 
How funny! It sounds almost like a contradiction of terms. 
As if mirth and fun and jollity could be reduced to rule and 
law! As if a man who is capable of seeing the point of a 
joke, could ignore the tickling effect thereof long enough to 
seriously consider why it has a point! Sensible nonsense! 
Show me a good sidesplitter, and by the time I get through 
laughing I shall not care a straw for scientific investigation 
of the cause. Of course there is a cause. There isn't any 
doubt but what the atmospheric molecules forced by your dia- 
phragm between the tense membranes connecting your pharynx 
with your larynx will cause vibrations of ether, which vibra- 
tions will be further modified by latitudinal deflections of your 
palatal protuberance, and the genuflexions of the base of your 
lingual organic fibers of muscularity, and still further modified 



PHILOSOPHY OF EXPRESSION. II 

by dentitional conditions, and both inferior and superior labial 
action, and will traverse radially thenceforward by undulatory 
methods of propagation with sufficient force to penetrate the 
external orifice of my auricular appendages, and thence be con- 
ducted obliquely downward anteriorly through the tubular 
passages against the tympanum, which tympanum will readily 
communicate the force of these molecular vibrations directly 
through the cochlea and transversely across the posterior ori- 
fice of the eustachian tube, whereat the liquid secretions of the 
labyrinth will delicately undulate against the malleus, to the 
effect that a sensation of sound will be set up in my sensorium, 
because of the conductive properties of the aural nerve termi- 
nating therein, and its ability to transmit the acoustic effects 
existing in the interior chambers, and the said sensorium being 
situated anteriorly to the cerebellum and inferiorly to the cere- 
brum, will therefore deliver its charge immediately into the 
multitudinous channels connecting the various organs of cere- 
bration, to the effect that certain concepts will take posses- 
ion of my consciousness, whereupon my judgment will weigh 
the sentiments thus awakened in my subjective mentality, and 
test the same by the criterion of truth, and finding the ideas 
ludicrously inharmonious, will pass sentence of amusing in- 
congruity, immediately after which my orbicular muscles will 
become extremely relaxed, causing my face to assume the ex- 
pression of a broad grin. 283 Now there isn't any doubt of 
that whatever. And as I further contemplate the degree of 
ludicrousness contained in the relation of the aforesaid con- 
cepts, my diaphragm contracts spasmodically and my exten- 
sors relax and flexors contract until the carpal and metacarpal 
phalanges are brought into proximity with the lumbar regions, 
and the digitals assume a protective position over the dorsal 
cavity, whereupon I give vent to a series of explosive exclama- 
tions, thus : — Ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! ! ! And then my 
deltoid muscles operate on my humerus, and my intercostals 
elevate the sternum, thereby opening the pneumatic chamber, 
and — away I go again — Ho ! ho ! ho ! ho ! — Hoo ! Hoo* ! Hoo ! 
And then I communicate this same bit of intelligence to Aunt 
Jane and straightway she jumps up (and the cat jumps in her 



12 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

chair) , and she proceeds to Je ! he ! he ! he ! he ! — He ! he ! he ! 
(sits down on the cat) — he! he! Quisgchx! quisgchx! he! 
he ! he ! quisgchx ! quish - wisch - wisch - wisch - ptsv ! ptsv ! 
quisgchx — 

Well, you all know what a conundrum is, and what a pun 
is, and repartee and various other kinds of wit are too common 
to need definition. Sometimes one conundrum is based on 
another conundrum. Here is a sample : " Why do travellers in 
the Sahara Desert never go hungry ?" " Because of the 
sand-which-is there." " But how came the sandwiches there ?" 
" Because it was meet that the descendants of Ham bred and 
mustered there." Now for an up-to-date conundrum — " Why 
does a cat purr when you look out at the window?" " Because 
you rubber neck." 

Humor differs from wit. Wit is short and sharp — 
Humor is mild and funny. Wit may be keen and sarcastic, 
comes in quick flashes and is often directed against our ene- 
mies — Humor is kind, may be extended to any length and is 
often indulged in at the expense of our friends. The leading 
element of wit is surprise, but nothing higher. 

If it contains beauty or sublimity as well as surprise, the 
surprise will be swallowed up in the higher emotion. Other 
emotions, if strongly excited, have the same extinguishing 
effect. Thus if a dandy with a $10.00 hat on a 10c. head in 
attempting to show off before a crowd, should slip and fall in 
the mud, we would laugh at his ridiculous plight; but if a poor 
old woman carrying a child across a muddy street should fall 
and hurt herself or the child, our pity would quench the feeling 
of humor completely. Fear operates in the same way, when- 
ever an otherwise ludicrous accident involves, danger. 

In puns and various forms of wit, there is a double mean- 
ing to be attached to some word or phrase, and the surprise 
consists in the discovery that the same expression can have two 
such unlike meanings. It must also be so expressed that the 
hearer must use his mind diligently to discover the unexpected 
relation, and the surprise is the more agreeable as it reflects 
the more credit on the person who is smart enough to see the 
joke. People differ greatly in their perspicacity along this 



PHILOSOPHY OP EXPRESSION. 1 3 

line. Tell an Irishman a joke and he will instantly fire back a 
fitting rejoinder. Tell the same joke to an Englishman, and 
next morning he may sit down on the back doorstep and take 
a good laugh over it. It is just beginning to dawn upon him 
that that was a joke. 

Slang phrase is a form of humor that should be used with 
care, if at all. It is too well known to require definition and 
classification, although it is capable of both; so instead of 
going into details of philosophy, I will quote a few samples.* 

Now, in all kinds of wit and humor the things described 
must be congruous in the midst of their incongruity, and, of 
course, both congruity and incongruity can only be determined 
by comparison. 

Besides expression in language, there is a certain amount 
of expression of ideas conveyed through symbols. Foremost 
in this form of idealism is Nature, and Nature's most faithful 
representative, Art. Indeed, so close is the relation between 
nature and art in all matters of expression that the standard of 
art is nature. Hence the Latin maxim, " Artis est celare 
artem " — The art is to conceal art. 1 " 

You have heard of the two artists who loved the same 
lady, and she, not being able to decide between them, left the 
choice to her father, who was himself an art critic on flowers. 
Each lover was to paint a bouquet, and the one that was truest 
to nature should win the grand prize. 

On the day for competitive examination one lover arrived 
first and his picture was carefully scrutinized from every view- 
point and under various forms of illumination, and the father 
found it so perfect that he gave the artist to understand that 
his prize was as good as won. Finally the other artist arrived 
and placed his picture by the side of the other one, but with a 
thin veil thrown over it. The father compared them faithfully 

* The reader is here referred to " Buck Fanshaw's Funeral " in Mark Twain's 
" Roughing It," which is regarded by literateurs as the best hit on slang phrase 
ever published. For a sample of modern theatrical slang phrase, read " John Henry." 

t For exceptions to this view, read " Art For Art's Sake," " How To Understand 
Pictures " and others by J. C. Van Dyke. 



14 BEST THOUGHTS OP BEST THINKERS. 

and conscientiously, and found the second picture almost equal 
to the first, even with the veil over it, and finally decided that 
if the second picture didn't look coarse when the veil was re- 
moved, there would be some show for lover No. 2. So he told 
him to remove the veil, but the artist replied " There is no veil 
there. The veil is simply painted on. It is part of the picture !" 
" 'Nough said. The bride is yours." 

Some years ago I was teaching a select school and a 
young lady came to me for art criticism and architecture. She 
had been in my school a year before for logic and mental phil- 
osophy, and I knew she could comprehend art expression al- 
most intuitively, if paintings and statuary could be selected so 
as to present the principles in their logical order. When she had 
read up on the elements of criticism and I had pointed out to 
her their application through all the harmonies of color blend- 
ing, grouping, configuration etc., I took her to a famous art 
gallery for illustrations. Each time our line of inquiry brought 
us into the realm of the ideal, I was careful to commence on 
a new line, before we should approximate too closely to the con- 
sideration of nude figures. The following occurrence, how- 
ever, forced the issue: We were studying a landscape when 
a strange man and woman entered. 

" Well Mi-ran-dy," said the man, " did you ever see the 
beat!" 

The woman tittered. Supposing me to be the proprietor, 
she caught my sleeve, and pointing to a lovely painting of 
" Musidora " from Thompson's Seasons, said, — 

" Why don't you kiver that up?" 

" Is it not beautiful ?" I asked. 

" Yes, but she hain't got a stitch of clothes on." 

" Very true ; but how would she look in that sequestered 
pool with her clothes on?" 

" Well, if that hain't a vulgar picture, I'd like to have you 
show me one that is." 

I replied, " There are no vulgar pictures here, Madam, 
but there are pictures of vulgar people. There, for instance," 
and I pointed to a group of a dozen men and women engaged 
in a bacchanalian revelry. " They are all well clothed, but 



PHILOSOPHY OP EXPRESSION. 15 

dissipation is pictured on every face and form. Those people 
are ready to indulge in any vice upon the slightest excuse, 
while Musidora here is the personification of virtue. Study 
these pictures together and you will soon perceive that clothing 
does not constitute modesty, nor the want of it vulgarity." 

" Well, I must say Dora has got a sweet face. Now, 
what does this marble gal mean?" 

" That is Una and the Lion. The sculptor portrays her 
innocence as her protection, even from a wild beast ; and there- 
by warns man that to rob her of her virtue, he must degrade 
himself below the level of the brute." 

Next came the Lorelei ; then some Siren, and the woman 
kept on until she had called out a brief explanation of every- 
thing in sight which she formerly thought vulgar. She left the 
building with her hushand, but on passing down the stairs 
she was heard to say, " John, we just don't know nothin/ If 
I understood picters like them people, I'd want to stay in this 
buildin' a whole hour." 

The strangers gone, my lady spoke first : " I have been 
trying to discover the principle that underlies this delicate 
subject. Can you give me, in a word, the key to the situation." 

" I'll try. There's Venus at the Bath. Suppose the picture 
represented that same Venus in the street. Do you see the 
point?" 

" I think I do. It is harmony of surroundings, — Con- 
sistency." 

" Correct, only, here it is called congruity. Concerning 
truth, you learned in your logic that — ? " 

" That the criterion of truth is congruity between the 
subject and the predicate." 470 

" Correct again. Now, practice differs, but principles are 
eternal. Every artist has some way of making his picture tell 
some truth, and his success can never be assured until con- 
gruity pervades his work. It is just as true of this simple 
landscape we were studying as of those difficult figures." And 
I led her back to where we were first interrupted and the fol- 
lowing dialogue ensued: — 



1 6 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

" Take that word * congruity ' for your key and now 
unlock the meaning of this. Who are those two persons on 
that bridge?" She thought a moment and then replied, 

— "I should saw they are lovers." 

" Yes." — (And so I continue to ask and she answers) — 
" And why on a bridge?" 

— " They are crossing the Stream of Life." 
" And not coming but — ? " 

— " Going to the other shore." 
" The breezes — ? " 

— " Whisper lovingly in the leaves." 
" The sunshine — ? " 

— " Kisses the water." 

" And on the shore — ? " 

— " The vine clings to the oak." 
" And the daisies — ? " 

— "Nod 'Yes:'" 

" While the branches overhead — ? " 

— " Wave their benedictions." 
" Then here are poppies — ? " 

— " To soothe away the cares of life." 

"And what is the attractive feature of this flock?" 

— (Blushingly) "The lambs." 

" You see, now, that with all these things considered to- 
gether you cannot be mistaken as to who these people are. 
Much more is still to be found in the background. The church 
steeple — ? " 

— " Solemnizes their vows." 

" And the halo in the distance — ? " 

— " Is heaven." 

" Yes, and the whole picture is in a circle. What does 
that mean?" 

— " The circle is the symbol of eternity, but it is all 
around — not simply beyond the stream." 

" And do you not see how that applies? " 
" I confess I do not. Please explain." 
" It is a year, Miss Weldon, since you came to me, and I 
6rst grounded you firmly on intuitions. 3d2 434 Now charge 



PHILOSOPHY OP EXPRESSION. 1 7 

yourself fully with that idea — the intuition of time — and 
see what you discover." 

A moment's introspection, and she responded, — 

" I see it all ; I see it all. The infinite past and the infinite 
future meet in the present moment, and we live in eternity — 
now ! " 

" Well said. Then the circle should be all around. You 
see the waves flowing in ever-widening circles around the point 
where a pebble dropped from the bridge." 

" I do." 

" That is a fitting illustration of the truth you have just 
spoken ; we live in eternity now. We occupy that point in the 
center and the same point is center, not only of one circle, but 
of all those circles. In other words, all the past is ours, be- 
cause the present is the summation of the past; whilst all the 
future is ours by reason of immortality." 

And thus I might go on for hours illustrating to you 
how readily an apt student of nature will discover the prin- 
ciples or philosophy of expression as depicted in art. There is 
an eternal fitness of things, discoverable only by comparison 
of things with each other, but which, once discovered, en- 
ables us to express harmony, consistency, agreement — in 
other words, congrutty between one idea and another; 
whether formulated into words and sentences, or painted 
into form and color, or chiseled into enduring marble. 

Now we have reserved for our closing thoughts the 
subject of Poetry. So far as the Philosophy of Expression 
is concerned, the mechanism of poetry is of equal importance 
with the fire of genius; and that mechanism or formality 
of expression is called Versification. The leading elements 
of versification are rhyme and rhythm. These elements may 
be related to each other in such ways as to constitute several 
varieties of verse, but nearly all poetry can be classified under 
the four principal divisions; viz., Iambic, Trochaic, Ana- 
paestic and Dactylic. Iambic verse has feet of two syllables 
each, accented on the second, thus — 

Praise God | from whom | all bless | ings flow, 
Praise Him | all crea|tures here | below. 



1 8 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Trochaic verse has feet of two syllables each, but ac- 
cented on the first, thus — 

Lives of | great men \ all re] mind us 
We can | make our | lives sub | lime — 
And departing | leave be|hind us 
Footprints | on the | sands of | time. 

These two forms of verse, Iambic and Trochaic, are best 
suited to solemn or serious subjects. 

Anapaestic verse has feet of three syllables each, and 
each foot is accented on the third syllable — thus, "The In- 
dian's Lament"— 

I will go | to my tent | and lie down | in despair; 
I will paint | me with black J and will sev|er my hair; 
I will sit | on the shore | where the hur|ricane blows, 
And reveal j to the God j of the tem|pest my woes — 
I will weep | for a sea | son on bit|terness fed, 
For my kindred are gone to the hills of the dead. 
But they died not by hunger or lingering decay, 
The steel of the white man hath swept them away. 
My wife and my children, oh, spare me the tale! 
For who is there left that is kin to Geehale! 



Dactylic verse has feet of three syllables each, but ac- 
cented on the first, thus — " Heber's Epiphany " — 

Brightest and | best of the | sons of the | morning, 
Dawn on our | darkness and | lend us thine | aid. 
Star of the | East the hor|izon a|dorning, 
Guide where our ] infant Re|deemer is | laid. 

The last two forms — Anapaestic and Dactylic — lend 

themselves easily to lighter sentiments, thus, 

O, the Rose of Grenada was blooming full-blown, 

And she laughed at her suitors who thought her their own, 

Till there came from Morocco the Moor, Ala-Jaerr, 

And he tossed from his spearhead the horse-tails in air, saying — 

" List to me, lady ; 
For hither I've flown, 
O, Rose of Grenada, 
To make thee my own." 



PHILOSOPHY OF EXPRESSION. 19 

Another, 

There was a gay maiden lived down by the mill, 

Ferry me over the ferry — 
Her hair was as bright as the waves of a rill, 
When the sun on the brink of his setting stands still, 

Her lips were as full as a cherry. 

Another—" The Song of the Cannon Ball." 

I come from the ether cleft hotly aside, 
Through the air of the soft summer morning; 
I come with a song as I dash on my way, 
Both a dirge and a message of warning: 
No sweet idle dreams nor romance of love, 
Nor poet's soft balm-breathing story 
Of armor-clad knight, at tournament gay, 
Where a scarf was the guerdon of glory; — 

Whistling so airily 

Past the ear warily, 

Watching me narrowly, 

Crashing, I come! 

Now compare this easy flowing style with the stately and 
dignified tread of the Iambic, thus — 

At midnight in his guarded tent, 

The Turk lay dreaming of the hour, 

When Greece, her knee in suppliance bent, 
Should tremble at his power ; 

In dreams, through camp and court he bore 
The trophies of a conqueror; — etc., etc. 

It would be very pleasant to illustrate in this way all the 
different kinds of meter used with each variety of verse, 
but time forbids, and we shall* therefore, turn our attention 
now from the matter of mechanism to the inherent quality 
that distinguishes poetry from mere jingle. 

In testing for poetry a composition must not only be 
faultless in rhyme and rhythm and other qualities of versifi- 
cation, but the sentiment conveyed must be of such beauty or 
sublimity or other creditable quality that it is capable of being 
charged with the poetical essence — the said poetical essence 
being imagination verbalized. Prose often contains these 



20 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

qualities and may be styled poetic prose, while verse without 
it is prosaic poetry, if poetry at all. The samples given in 
illustration of the mechanism, I have quoted from various 
other authors. The remaining specimens are all original, and 
are illustrative of poetic quality, or the want of it. 

The first requisite of genuine poetry is a poetic subject. 
The best verses possible on a low or commonplace subject, 
will, of necessity, contain only commonplace ideas; and, for 
this reason, if for no other, will lack the truly poetic essence. 

To illustrate: An aged gentleman who is a Senator 
from one of the Eastern States, and is widely known as The 
Hockesin Philosopher, wrote me several letters on educa- 
tional subjects, and mentioned the many callings in life which 
he had pursued more or less successfully, modestly under- 
estimating his past achievements. He also referred to the 
criticism of certain authors on my published works, as set 
forth in a certain scientific journal. 

In answering this letter, I wrote several lines supposing 
I was writing prose, when I suddenly discovered that all I 
had written was, in perfect rhyme and rhythm, though written 
out in full length lines, just as any poem might be written 
to look like prose. I give it as, a sample of poetry with the 
poetry left out. Following is the letter: 

Cleveland, O., May 23d, 
Dear Mr. Jackson : 

Allow me one word. I have no sympathy with this one-idea plan, 

What the world wants now is an all-round man. 

Not one with his heart anchored fast to base greed, 

And his head all gone up to one corner to seed. 

Most mischievous saying under the sun 

Is "Jack of all trades and master of none." 

Where one is thus wisely restrained in his zest, 

A thousand are hindered from doing their best. 

" One thing at a time," may be all very well, 

But one thing all the time is like prisoner's cell, 

Confining ideas in cast-iron grooves, 

Till the Idea Tinker forgets the world moves. 

I don't mean to write you this letter in verse, 

But the Muse makes it jingle, no matter how terse. 

The last man on earth would be I, if I know it, 

To be transformed into a " Laureate poet." 



PHILOSOPHY OF EXPRESSION. 21 

The authors say eyes are the surest of sign; 

I aver there's no " fine frenzy rolling " in mine. 

But this fairly well will illustrate the truth, 

That you can't get blood out of a turnip. Forsooth! 

No matter how perfect the meter and rhyme, 

A prosaic subject will only keep time. . 

A commonplace thought, though you trim and you prune, 

Like a drum, makes good music, — excepting the tune. 

The marble block may hide an angel within, 

And the sculptor release it ; but sorry the kin 

Set free by the veriest Angelo's skill, 

If only a sandstone be fashioned at will. 

But ere I shall close, I must make you this point : 

My critics, you notice, are all out of joint. 

Their essays appearing in last College Journal 

Are wise and some otherwise ; some are — supernal. 

I pretty near said something else that would rhyme. 

You need not begrudge them their jolly good time. 

They may think they have silenced me, fair means or foul ; 

But then, I am like the Irishman's owl 

That he bought for a parrot ; and while it sat winking, 

Pat said, " Fa'th, he kapes up a d'ale of a thinkin ! " 

But 'tis only lent. They'll all get their dues, 

Without the assistance of this jolly muse. 

In sober good earnest I'll see that they're schooled; 

And till then, I remain, 

Most respectfully, 

Gould. 

Now, you have doubtless observed that that is a good 
sample of rhyme and rhythm, but there is no poetry in it. 

There is one line, however, that comes dangerously near 
the limit. It is where we said " The marble block may hide 
an angel within, And the sculptor release it." There is a 
beautiful thought, and if you want to write jingle you must 
carefully exclude beauty and sublimity. It may be forcible 
and logical, but that doesn't make it poetic. The sample just 
quoted is forcible and logical, and for the most part sensible 
and serious, but it could be all these if written in prose. 
Versification adds nothing to its force or its sense, and as 
there is no pretension to beauty, there can be no claim to 
poetry. 

Senator Jackson appreciated this letter very highly, and 
in his reply gave evidence that he should be ranked with that 
class of grand old men who are loved by all who know them. 



22 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

His beauty of character inspired me to answer in language 
that I shall now submit as a specimen of poetic prose, because 
it contains the beautiful thoughts necessary to poetry, but is 
not versified till near the last where it passes almost insensibly 
into verse. I shall also alter the pronouns so as to make it 
read as a message to you, thus : — 

The heart may bloom perennially, though the head be 
whitened with the frosts of age. Accustom yourself, while 
young, to think cheerfully and without melancholy, upon the 
great problem of existence. Anticipate the solemnities of 
advanced life; meet the questions at issue manfully and ra- 
tionally; fortify yourself, while young, against the depress- 
ing influences of superstitious fear, and you may retain youth 
always. 

The bright and peaceful countenance will still reflect the 
purity of the life within, and youthful associates will still 
prefer the sunshine of your company. 

Reciprocally, you may now, in your youth, find great 
profit in cultivating the acquaintance of the aged. Honor 
them with filial devotion; cheer them with kindly considera- 
tion, and you will speedily find a singular charm in their 
society. Neither is it all on account of their greater experi- 
ence in life, but rather in anticipation of the greater ex- 
perience they are soon to enter upon. From within the very 
gates of heaven they are smiling back upon us their peaceful 
benediction. 

We should look upon them as having served out their 
time under more trying circumstances than now obtain, and 
with less of comfort and naught of luxury, they neverthe- 
less stood such tests, as few are now required to bear. They 
are at present simply waiting on the threshold, and only 

A beckoning hand, a nod or a smile 

From the guardian angel that watches the while, 

Is needed to set their souls aflight, 

On pinions of love to the realms of light. 

Like flowers full blown they have given us cheer, 

And sweetened our lives from year to year. 

A slightly chilled zephyr alone may suffice 

To droop their loved forms, and they're gone in a trice. 



PHILOSOPHY OP EXPRESSION. 2$ 

Let us cherish them tenderly, watching with care, 
The ebb of affection's fragrance rare. 
Though withered and fading, they ever impart 
A soothing balm to the bleeding heart. 

The bud and the flower in beauty are tossed, 

But anon, the dead leaves hide the roots from the frost. 

Though fair in our youth and strong in our prime, 

It was last year's leaves gave us strength to climb; 

And the blush on the bud as on cheek of love 

Is penciled by artists that smile from above. 

Now that is a sample of poetry depending' wholly upon 
the element of beauty. Beautiful thoughts about beautiful 
things expressed in beautiful language and involving even 
beauty of character. There is no sublimity about it, — not 
even grandeur — no attempt to* rise above that which is 
merely beautiful. 

This satisfies the aesthetic sense; -but, now, there are 
higher emotions to be ministered unto; viz., the moral or 
spiritual. To be poetic in support of these faculties, we must 
be not only logical, though imaginative, but we must embody 
either grandeur or sublimity in sufficient measure to awaken 
like sentiments or emotions in the minds of those whose 
sensibilities are sufficiently developed to exercise or enjoy 
such a high grade of feeling. 

As a sample of this form of expression I beg to offer 
you, in conclusion, an original epic, founded on the long 
meter doxology. 

Try to rise with me to the full appreciation of this lofty 
sentiment, as I expand the familiar theme and clothe it with 
the grandeur and sublimity of God's own handiwork in 
nature. 

Now learn we a lesson from Nature, 

God manifest unto the flesh; 
But first as becometh the Creature, 

His praises we utter afresh. 

And we call upon Nature to praise Him; 

The highest, the lowliest thing; 
All goodness conspires to raise Him, 

And crown Him of all kings, The King. 



24 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

PRAISE. 

Praise God from whom all blessings flow; 
Praise Him, all creatures here below; 
Praise Him above, ye heavenly throng; 
Praise God with Nature's ever glorious, all- 
victorious song. 

Praise God, ye living rocks of earth, 
In adamant ye voice His worth; 
With crystal tongue ye speak His praise, 
His glory shines in Vulcan's blaze. 

Thy molten lavas spake His praise, 
Ere forests decked thy sloping ways; 
Thy chemic unions symbolize, 
Infinite Love in earth and skies. 

Praise God ye strata, layers deep, 
His holy records thou dost keep ; 
Thy fossils voice the All-wise Plan, 
Thy testimony precedes Man. 

Next let the note of praise be sung, 
Where earth's primeval forests sprung; 
Luxurious growth of giant fern, 
Thy carbons now in praises burn. 

Praise God ye depths of ocean bed, 

Where conscious life first reared its head 

Thy protoplasmic cells contain 

The germ of nerve for Reason's brain. 

Praise Him, ye molluscs, mammals, all — 
Ye birds that fly, ye worms that crawl ; 
In evolution's chant ye sing 
Eternal progress toward your King. 

Praise God, O Man, thou crown of life, 
Thou victor-born of Nature's strife. 
Praise God that thou survivest all — 
Thou God-Man, type of All-in-all. 

Praise Him in thought and word and deed; 
Praise Him and reap eternal meed; 
Praise Him in spirit and in truth; 
Praise Him that gives eternal youth. 

O Man, thou conscience-being, praise! 
O Earth-born, knowing Heaven's ways; 
O Soul-begotten, God-endowed, 
Praise God who all thy gifts allowed. 



PHILOSOPHY OP EXPRESSION. 2$ 

Ye stars, ye suns, ye Time's first-born, 
That lived ere nebulous earth was torn 
From out the bosom of our Sun, 
Praise God, while in your course ye run. 

Praise God, ye oldest worlds in space; 
Thy people long have run life's race; 
By evolution high up-raised, 
Awake thy voice, let God be praised. 

Let praises ring from star to star, 
From world to luminous world as far 
As the Universe spreads its floods of light, 
Praise God in whom ye move aright. 

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, 
Praise Him, all creatures here below, 
Praise Him above, ye heavenly throng, 
Praise God, with Nature's All-Triumphant song. 



The lecture on the Philosophy of Expression closed with 
the above sample of epic poetry. For a further example of the 
inspirational forms of expression, we submit another of Pro- 
fessor Gould's poems which constitutes the closing lines of 
his lecture on "Geology and its connection with Astronomy. " 
His treatment of the awe-inspiring processes of cosmogenesis, 
or world-building, is such as to prepare the hearer's mind 
most effectually for the appreciation of both the sublime 244 25S> 
and the beautiful, 260 as expressed in this poetic lesson from 
nature. 

Rhetorically speaking, the poem is cast in the dual form 
of Apostrophe 201 and Appeal, the stanzas set toward the 
left margin being an Apostrophe to Nature, while the stanzas 
set to the right are an Appeal to Man. The verse is Iambic 
Pentameter. Parts of paragraphs preceding the poem are 
also inserted here, as introductory. 

****** fh e highest faculties of the human 
mind are called into action, when we contemplate the handi- 
work of Omnipotence, as wrought out by the forces of nature 



26 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

and everywhere exhibited to our wondering gaze. Not only 
is beauty unfolded in leaf and blossom, in gem and crystal, 
in sea and sky; but to the thinking mind that comprehends 
the processes involved and penetrates, to hidden causes, all 
these phenomena are more than beautiful — they are sublime ! 
The more striking exhibitions of grandeur, as in aurora, or 
cataract, or volcano', or eclipse, call forth universal expres- 
sions of emotion; but the thoughtful student, the thorough 
scholar, waits not for these unusual occurrences, for he sees 
in the commonest things, the results of prehistoric exhibi- 
tions, on a grander scale than human eye has ever witnessed. 
Beauty, and even grandeur are swallowed up in sublimity, 
as man grasps, the full meaning of Nature's propositions. 
We comprehend the data, we test each and all the premises, 
as we pass by logical steps through the entire chain of cause 
and effect; and as each succeeding conclusion is necessitated, 
and we reach the final statement, a feeling of awe comes over 
us, born of the certain knowledge that we are thinking the 
very thoughts of the Almighty! Infinite Wisdom thought 
out the principles and wrought out the facts of Nature; and 
we, poor worms of the dust, are nevertheless endowed with 
so much of Godhood, that we are able to think His thoughts 
after Him, according to the eternal principles of reason. No 
wonder we feel our souls too full for utterance, when the 
sublimity of our thoughts forces upon us the full realization 
of the fact that we are created in the image of God. 

* * * " Imagine the time when the earth first became 
cool enough not to shine by its own light. Then, and not 
till then, was night, and the evening and the morning were 
the first day. Imagine how long it must have rained to rain 
the ocean full ; and before there was any ocean bed, the 
waters covered the entire surface of the earth. Finally, the 
molten interior cooled and contracted so that the crust be- 
came wrinkled in adjusting itself to the smaller volume, and 
thus a few mountain ranges were formed and thrust their 
rocky peaks above the surface of the ocean. Thousands of 
volcanoes belched forth their fiery charges, and streams of 
molten lava ran hissing into the sea. Convulsion after con- 



PHILOSOPHY OP EXPRESSION. 27 

vulsion raised new mountain chains and submerged the older 
ones. The ocean's floor was frequently ruptured, and the 
waters had no rest. All was change, violent change! 

*****" Next imagine this vegetable stratum 
submerged until another thousand feet of rock accumulates 
above it, and the imprisoned trees become metamorphosed 
into coal. On and on this rising and falling of the vast con- 
tinental areas has been continued; and although to us the 
time between these pulsations seems almost inconceivable, it 
is but the trifling period of a breath, measured off by the 
heaving breast of Mother Earth! In extent, also, these 
momentous changes are but slight in comparison. The high- 
est mountain is not equal in altitude to a grain of sand on 
a 24-inch globe, and North America but the size of a man's 
hand. To raise or lower that amount of surface only a hair's 
breadth in comparison is to Mother Earth but a gentle sigh; 
and as to time, Eternity's clock ticks centuries ! 

*****" We have already referred to the sub- 
limity of this subject. The essential elements of its con- 
sideration from a standpoint of Mental Philosophy are such 
as to call forth the highest and best thought of each thinker. 
If there is any subject, the contemplation of which will in- 
spire reverence for the Giver of all Good, it is this one. The 
great Sir Isaac Newton said, " Surely, the undevout astron- 
omer is mad." You should not consider it a weakness and 
strive to throw off the influence, but rather encourage it, and 
let the lessons of Nature sink deep into your soul. Be glad 
you are created with qualities of mind high enough to recog- 
nize sublimity; and when you feel the strength of your 
emotion, as if choking you up, too full for utterance, you 
may take that as a compliment to yourself, because it is an 
evidence of the high grade at which you stand in the scale 
of existence. 

" We have touched here upon three fields of thought — 
Natural Philosophy, Mental Philosophy, and Moral Philos- 
ophy; but the philosopher hath not this realm to himself. 
Sublimity is one of the essential elements in poetry. Having 
this element in common, you will understand why it is that 



28 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

some of the best philosophers have been poets, and some of the 
best poets, philosophers. 

" Now, having through the contemplation of this ex- 
alting theme, raised your minds to this higher plane of 
thought, it would be almost criminal in me not to bring home 
to your moral sense the virtues of character shadowed forth 
in rock and crystal, sea and plain. For reasons already as- 
signed you will also indulge me for expressing these elevating 
sentiments in the inspirational form of rhyme and rhythm. 
Therefore I proceed with an Apostrophe to Nature, and Ap- 
peal to Man. 

APOSTROPHE - - APPEAL. 

68 Roll on, thou restless, endless ocean, roll ! 

Thy boundless depths but symbolize man's soul; 
Heaving thy troubled breast with tidal wave, 
As man's is from the cradle to the grave. 

69 Thy tides to sun and lunar orb respond; 
Thy streams to tropic heat, and flow beyond 
Where Winter's realm, begirt with ice-bound shores, 
Receives with gladness all thy thermal stores. 

70 So Man, by heavenly forces tempest tried, 
Developed, finds his nature purified, 
And overflowed with sympathy and love, 
Seeks out the erring ones and points above. 

71 The winds may dash thy waters 'gainst the rocks, 
Thy billows surge and roar with earthquake shocks; 
Yet, Hurricane but singeth Nature's psalm, — 
That "Action purifies thee for thy calm." 

72 Oh Soul, take courage ; * labor is thy life ; 
Thy purity is also born of strife ; 

Like all things else, self-action makes thee pure, 
Thy ceaseless efforts make thy victory sure. 

73 Though foaming passion splashes through thy breast, 
'Tis highest billows bear the silver crest. 

The maddest floods that o'er thee dash in rage, 
But mark the forces that create thee sage. 

74 Then meet the rolling waters of despair, 
With firmness born of trials, toil and care. 
Thus fortified thou sailest o'er life's Main, 

With nought to fear from Maelstrom's whirling train. 



PHILOSOPHY OP EXPRESSION. 20, 

75 Oh, Rock-bound cliffs that gird an island shore, 
Charmed by the music of old ocean's roar, 
Learn we a lesson from thy steadfast stand : 
Deep art thou anchored 'neath the shifting sand. 

76 Storms shake thee not. Thy brow the lightning's bolt 
Defies, while all the elements revolt. 

Yet when the sunlights thee in glory lave, 
Thou smilest back from 'neath the placid wave. 

77 Oh thou, my Soul, stand cliff-bound for the right ; 
Not all the powers of darkness thee affright. 

When passion's waves do storm thee blow on blow, 
Let Reason's cliff say, "Thus far shalt thou go." 

78 And when with love-light's joy thine eye shall beam, 
And all thy form with happy halos gleam, 

The sea of passion stilled beneath thy feet, 
Shall mirror up thy loveliness complete. 

79 Now to the mountain's dizzy height we look, 

To read what there is penned in Nature's book, — 
Sublimity and grandeur here control, 
And find response in elevated soul. 

80 Thy snow-crowned summits raise their hoary heads 
Above the clouds that bathe thy water-sheds. 

The very folds that weave thy frosty shrouds, 
Are crystallized from rare air, not from clouds. 

81 Thy torrents leap from crag to crag adown ; 

The foaming cataract hides the bluff's dark frown; 
But melted frosts that feed thy purest streams, 
Flow down from where perpetual sunshine gleams. 

82 Oh Soul ! canst thou not rise above thy care, 
And breathe the calmness of that purer air? 
Hold up thy head above the storms of life, 
To fairer, rarer heights where comes no strife. 

83 Then shall thy streams of gladness ever flow 
To bless thy boon companions here below ; 
Not sorrow's waters these pure heights alloy, 
Thy fountains gush and flow with tears of joy. 

84 Thou rocky slopes that midway to the plain, 
Lie wrapped in stormy clouds and driving rain, 
Art slowly crumbling 'neath such wintry wear, 
And deep ravines appear like wrinkled scar. 



30 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

85 But Nature smites thee in thy solitude, 

That teeming plains may bring forth fruit and food. 
Thy rocks dissolved recuperate the soil, 
And only thus reward the hand of toil. 

86 Oh, Spirit of Advance! what lesson here, 
To give thee courage or dispel thy fear? 
'Tis this: Above the paths thy fathers trod, 
Thou standest in the presence of thy God. 

87 Searching for higher, grander truths to know, 
To feed the poverty of mind below, 

Thou workest all unhonored and alone, — 
God melts thy heart as Nature melts the stone. 

88 'Mid storms of desolation, mists of doubt, 
Thy spirit struggles and thy soul cries out, 
" O, for a living ground of certitude, 

And inspiration from Infinitude !" 

89 Born of thy suffering, daring Reason's strain, 
Conditions rise that sensitize the brain ; 
Thenceforth thy mind is open to receive 

The thoughts that hoary sage or poet give. 

90 Pour out thy heavenly treasures to the world; 
The flag of moral progress be unfurled ! 
Beneath this banner thou shalt win the prize, — 
Establish rapport between earth and skies. 

91 The teeming walks of life thy succor need, 

To stimulate pure thoughts, and lessen greed; 
A reason-tested faith their soul uplifts, 
Nor longer floats with superstition's drifts. 

92 'Mid pleasant valleys flow earth's noble streams, 
With curving, winding grace of beauty's dreams ; 
The rippling rills, the singing brooks, forth leap 
To cause the river's grand majestic sweep. 

93 Oh, Mighty River, run thy shining course, 
Thou beauteous emblem of life's hidden force! 
Bear on thy noble fleets of industry, 

And scatter joy from mountain base to sea. 

04 Around each swelling curve thy waters glide 
Silent and deep along the outer side; 
But next the inner shore on shingly beach, 
The laughing wavelets to the daisies reach. 



PHILOSOPHY OP EXPRESSION. 31 

95 Around the flowery fields or fragrant grove. 
Thine arm encircles with caress of love; 
Thy sparkling waters cast affection's glance, 
While birds and flowers join in rapture's trance. 

96 So Man, thine outward course with purpose deep, 
In dignity and firmness onward keep, 

But round domestic circle let thine heart 
Relax thy brow, and wonted smile impart. 

97 In public duty, firm though gentle be, 
In social circles — strictest purity ; — 

But bravest men are tenderest and true, 
The loving are the daring ones to do. 

98 But not all rivers run through pleasant dales, 
Admired by orchard hills and flowery vales. 
Some under cover of the forest's shade, 

Drag out their tropic course through marsh and glade. 

99 Some 'mid the mountain's rocky fastness run, 
Through deep-walled canon, shutting out the sun; 
And others interrupted in their way, 

Must leap the precipice, though dashed to spray. 

100 Oh, Soul ! when duty leads thee o'er that brink, 
Plunge to the bottom, nor a moment shrink! 
Thy prompt discharge of duty gives thee class, 
Not all Niagara's grandeur can surpass! 

101 Thy mighty sacrifice of peace and bliss, 
To dwell in boiling prison-gorge abyss, 
Lends to thy character a stamp sublime, — 
A fitting monument outlasting time ! 

102 The mists that thee enshroud shall mirror down, 
In bright prismatic beauty, Nature's crown ; 

And all the turmoil of the whirlpool's rage, 
Shall seal thine urgent claim on history's page. 



32 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



LACONICS. 

To present the best thoughts of the best thinkers in a 
single volume, it is manifest that some method of condens- 
ing must be adopted, the result of which will make our book 
a multum in parvo. 

On all the leading linesi«of thought, the best thinkers 
have exhausted themselves to- such an extent that a whole 
volume, or many volumes, would be required to present one 
man's thoughts on one subject; and yet, by scanning closely 
the voluminous writings of any one author, it will be found 
that most of his efforts hinge upon some one central idea, 
and that in some happy moment of inspiration, he has voiced 
a concise, yet comprehensive expression of that leading 
thought, around which all his ideas have been crystallized. 
To discover this nucleus of truth, is the task we have set our- 
selves to perform, and the task would not be so formidable, 
if we were to express that leading truth in our own language. 
But to express the best thoughts of the best thinkers in their 
language, it is incumbent upon us not only to discover the 
governing idea, but to continue the search until we discover 
the statement of it in their own words. 

We have spared ourselves no effort in this direction, 
and the result is that thousands of central truths are herein 
presented, including hundreds of authors on hundreds of 
subjects, all of them in the language of that author when he 
was in a mood for giving us his best thoughts in a nut-shell. 
These intellectual crystals are classified, and interspersed 
among the various essays, original or quoted; under the uni- 
form caption of " Laconics." 

Definition. Webster defines this word and its deriva- 
tives thus: Laconics, n. i. A concise, sententious method 
of speaking; laconism. 



laconics. 33 

2. A concise phrase or expression; something ex- 
pressed in a brief, sententious manner. 

" Laconism " and " Laconicism " are other forms of the* 
same word, and the definition of all these forms is founded on 
the habit of the Lacedaemonians or Lacones, of expressing 
much in a few words. We often hear of " Spartan simplic- 
ity," " Spartan sternness," " Spartan severity," and the like. 
Sparta was the capital of Lacedsemonia, in ancient Greece. 
Its citizens were slaves, but in their bondage, they were none 
the less philosophers. Spartacus led them in their fight for 
freedom, (B. C. 73-71), proclaimed the abolition of slavery, 
and with an army of 70,000 men, he defeated Claudius Pul- 
cher, and compelled the Roman Knights to fight in the arena 
for his amusement, as he himself had been condemned to do 
by the Romans in Capua. It was the habit of the Lacones, 
or Spartans, to make brief, sententious replies. 

The word " laconic," as originally used in English, also 
included the idea of severity and sternness, and it was dis- 
tinguished from the word " concise " by the implication of 
these unpleasant elements. Latterly, the word " laconic " has 
not been thus restricted, and it is used in this volume only 
in the sense of conciseness, but it makes a better plural class 
noun than can be derived from concisus or concidere. With 
this explanation, we take pleasure in submitting our first in- 
stallment of — 

LACONICS. 

BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT WORDS. 

Words are the counters of wise men and the money of fools. 161 

— Hobbes. 

Words should be employed as the means, not as the end; language 
is the instrument, conviction is the work. — Sir J. Reynolds. 

Volatility in words is carelessness in actions; words are the wings 
of actions. — Lavater. 

The knowledge of words is the gate of scholarship. — Wilson. 

Words are both better and worse than thoughts ; they express them, 
and add to them; they give them power for good or evil; they start 
them on an endless flight, for instruction and comfort and blessing, or 
for injury and sorrow and ruin. — Try on Edwards. 



34 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

What you keep by you, you may change and mend; but words, 
once spoken, can never be recalled. — Roscommon. 

No man has a prosperity so high or firm, but that two or three 
•words can dishearten it; and there is no calamity which right words 
will not begin to redress. — Emerson. 

Not in books only, nor yet in oral discourse, but often also in words 
there are boundless stores of moral and historic truth, and no less of 
passion and imagination laid up, from which lessons of infinite worth 
may be derived — Whatcly. 

Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope 
of a fool than of him. — Solomon. 

I would rather speak the truth to ten men than blandishments and 
lying to a million. — Try it, ye who think there is nothing in it ; try 
what it is to speak with God behind you — to speak so as to be!6i 
only the arrow in the bow which the Almighty draws. — H. W. Beecher. 

Words are like 15 3 leaves, and where they most abound, 

Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found. — Pope. 

A good word is an easy obligation ; but not to speak ill requires 
only our silence, which costs us nothing. — Tillotson. 

You may tame the wild beast; the conflagration of the forest 
will cease when all the timber and the dry wood are consumed; but 
you cannot arrest the progress of that cruel word which you uttered 
carelessly yesterday or this morning. — F. W. Robertson. 

When words are scarce they're seldom spent in vain. — Shakespeare. 

Bad words are as influential as the plague and the pestilence. They 
have wrought more evil than battle, murder, and sudden death. They 
creep through the ear into the heart, call up all its bad passions, and 
tempt it to break God's commandments. — G. Mogridge. 

" The last word " is the most dangerous of infernal machines ; and 
husband and wife should no more fight to get it than they would strug- 
gle to get possession of a lighted bomb-shell. — Douglas Jerrold. 

Words are but the signs and counters of knowledge, and their 
currency should be strictly regulated by the capital which they represent. 

— Colton. 

There are words which sever hearts more than swords; there are 
words which sting the heart through the course of a whole life. 

— Frederika Bremer. 

He who seldom speaks, and with one calm well-timed word can 
strike dumb the loquacious, is a genius or a hero. — Lavater. 

Some so speak in exaggerations and superlatives that we need to 
make a large discount from their statements before we can come at their 
real meaning. — Tryon Edwards. 

Such as thy words are, such will thy affections be esteemed; and 
such will thy deeds be as thy affections; and such thy life as thy 
deeds. — Socrates. 

Words are but pictures of our thoughts.— Dryden. 



LACONICS. 35 

It makes a great difference in the force of a sentence, whether a 
man be behind it or no. — Emerson. 

It is with a word as with an arrow — once let it loose and it does 
not return. — Abd-el-Kader. 

It is a kind of good deed to say well, and yet words are no deeds. 

— Shakespeare. 

If you do not wish a man to do a thing, you had better get him 
to talk about it; for the more men talk, the more likely they are to do 
nothing else. — Carlyle. 

Words are things ; and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon 
a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, 
think. — Byron. 

A word unspoken is a sword in the scabbard; a word uttered is a 
sword in another's hand. — Quarles. 

Words are not essential to the existence of thought — only to its 
expression. — Dugald Stewart. 

Syllables govern the world. — Coke. 

Immodest words admit of no defense, 
For want of decency is want of sense. — Roscommon. 
He that uses many words for explaining any subject, doth, like 153 
the cuttle-fish, hide himself in his own ink. — Ray. 

BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT LANGUAGE. 

Language is the dress of thought. — Johnson. 

Language is not only the vehicle of thought, it is a great and) effici- 
ent instrument 4 *^ in thinking. — Sir Humphrey Davy. 

Language is the armory of the human mind, and at once contains 
the trophies of its past and the weapons of its future conquests. 

— Coleridge. 

What would the science of language be without missions. 

— Max Muller. 

Language as well as the faculty of speech, was the immediate gift 
of God. — Noah Webster. (Recent authorities contradict this statement 
emphatically454). 

Language!6i is the amber in which a thousand precious thoughts 
have been safely imbedded and preserved. It has arrested ten thousand 
lightning flashes of genius, which, unless thus fixed and arrested, might 
have been as bright, but would also have been as quickly passing and 
perishing as the lightning. Words convey the mental treasures of one 
period to the generations that follow; and laden with this, their preci- 
ous freight, they 176 sail safely across gulfs of time in which empires 
have suffered shipwreck, and the languages of common life have sunk 
into oblivion. — Trench. 

Language most shows a man; speak that I may see thee; it springs 
out of the most retired and inmost part of us. — Ben Jonson. 



36 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

The common people do not accurately adapt their thoughts to ob- 
jects; nor, secondly, do they accurately adapt their words to their 
thoughts ;3i they do not mean to lie; but, taking no pains to be exact, 
they give you very false accounts. A great part of their language is 
proverbial; if anything roflcs at all, they say it rocks like a cradle, and 
so they go on.209 — Johnson. 

The Creator has gifted the whole universe with language, but few 
are the hearts that can interpret it. Happy, those to whom it is no 
foreign tongue, acquired imperfectly with care and pain, but rather 
a native language, learned unconsciously from the lips of the great 
mother. — Bulwer. 

153 As a hawk flieth not high with one wing, even so a man reacheth 
not to excellence with one tongue. — Roger Ascham. 

To acquire a few tongues is the task of a few years; to be elo- 
quent in one is the labor of a life. — Spurgeon. 

A countryman is as warm in fustian as a king in velvet, and the 
truth is as comfortable in homely language as in fine speech. As to the 
way of dishing up the meat, hungry men leave that to the cook, only let 
the meat be sweet and substantial. — Spurgeon. 

The language denotes the man; a coarse or refined character finds 
its expression naturally in a coarse or refined phraseology. — Bovee. 

Felicity, not fluency of language, is a merit. — B. P. Whipple. 

Thinking cannot be clear till it has had expression. — We must write 
or speak, or act our thoughts, or they will remain in a half-torpid 
form. Our feelings must have expression or they will be as clouds, 
which, till they descend in rain, will never bring up fruit or flower. — 
So it is with all the inward feelings; expression gives them develop- 
ment. — Thought is the blossom; language the opening bud; action the 
fruit behind it. — Beecher. 

Language is a solemn thing. It grows out of life — out of its 
agonies and ecstacies, its wants and its weariness. — Every language is a 
temple in which the soul of those who speak is enshrined. 

— O. W. Holmes. 

There is no tracing of ancient nations but by language; therefore 
I am always sorry when any language is lost, for languages are the 
pedigree of nations. — Johnson. 

There was speech in their dumbness; language in their very gest- 
ure. — Shakespeare. 

Language is only the instrument of science, and words are but the 
signs of ideas. — Johnson. 

Language was given us that we might say pleasant things to each 
other. — Bovee. 

Languages, like our bodies, are in a perpetual flux, and stand in 
need of recruits to supply these words which are continually falling 
into disuse. — Felton. 

Word6 are* 61 the leaves of the tree of language of which, if some 
fall away, a new succession takes their place. — French. 



laconics. 37 

BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT POETRY. 

You will find poetry nowhere, unless you bring some with you. 

— Joubert. 
Poetry is music in words ; and music is poetry in sound ; both 
excellent sauce, but those have lived and died poor who made them 
their meat. — Fuller. 

The office of poetry is not to make us think accurately, but to feel 
truly. — F. IV. Robertson. 

Poetry is the music of thought conveyed to us in the music of 
language. — Chat field. 

Words become luminous when the poet's finger has passed over 
them its phosphorescence. — Joubert. 

A poet must needs be before his own age, to be even with posterity. 

— James Russell Lowell. 
Poetry is not made out of the understanding. The question of 
common sense is always, "What is it good for?" a question which 
would abolish the rose and be triumphantly answered by the cabbage. 

— /. R. Lowell. 
The poet's eye in a fine frenzy rolling, doth glance from heaven to 
earth, from earth to heaven ; and, as imagination bodies forth the 
. forms of things unknown, the poet's pen turns them to shapes, and 
gives to airy nothing a local habitation and a name. — Shakespeare. 

Of all kinds of ambition, that which pursues poetical fame is the 
wildest. — Goldsmith. 

Poetry is the sister of sorrow ; every man that suffers and weeps, 
i9 a poet ; every tear is a verse ; and every heart a poem. — Andre. 

Poetry has been to me its own exceeding great reward ; it has 
given me the habit of wishing to discover the good and beautiful in all 
that meets and surrounds me. — Coleridge. 

Poetry and consumption are the most flattering of diseases. 

— Shensione. 
Thoughts that breathe and words that burn. — Gray. 
Poetry reveals to us the loveliness of nature, brings back the fresh- 
ness of youthful feeling, revives the relish of simple pleasures, keeps 
unquenched the enthusiasm which warmed the spring-time of our being, 
refines youthful love, strengthens our interest in human nature by 
vivid delineations of its tenderest and softest feelings, and, through 
the brightness of its prophetic visions, helps faith to lay hold on the 
future life. — Channing. 

A poet ought not to pick nature's pocket. Let him borrow, and 
so borrow as to repay by the very act of borrowing, examine nature 
accurately, but write from recollection, and trust more to the imagina- 
tion than the memory. — Coleridge. 

Poets are never young in one sense. Their delicate ear hears the 
far-off whispers of eternity, which coarser souls must travel towards 
for scores of years before their dull sense is touched by them. — Holmes. 



38 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Poets utter great and wise things which they do not themselves 
understand. — Plato. 

Ah artist that works in marble or colors has them all to himself 
and his tribe, but the man who moulds his thoughts in verse has to 
employ the materials vulgarized by everybody's use, and glorify them 
by his handling. — Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

Poetry is the utterance of deep and heartfelt truth. — The true poet 
is very near the oracle.— B. H. Chapin. 

For poesy is love's chosen apostle, and the very almoner of God. 
She is the home of the outcast and the wealth of the needy. — Lowell.. 

You arrive at truth through poetry; I arrive at poetry through 
truth. — Joubert. 

Whatever the poets pretend, it is plain they give immortality to none 
but themselves ; it is Homer and Virgil we reverence, not Achilles 
or ^neas. — Swift. 

Poetry comes nearer to vital truth than history. — Plato. 

Poetry is itself a thing of God. He made his prophets poets; and 
the more we feel of poesie do we become like God in love and power. 

— Bailey. 

Poesy is of so subtle a spirit, that in the pouring out of one lan- 
guage into another it will evaporate. — Denhatn. 

Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the hap- 
piest minds. — Shelley. 

Poetry is the art of substituting shadows, and of lending exist- 
ence to nothing. — Burke. 

The world is full of poetry. The air is living with its spirit; and 
the waves dance to the music of its melodies, and sparkle in its bright- 
ness. — Percival. 

Poetry is most just to its divine origin when it administers the 
comforts and breathes the thoughts of religion. — Wordsworth. 

Poets are all who love and feel great truths and tell them. — Bailey. 

Poetry is something to make us better and wiser by continually 
revealing those types of beauty and truth which God has set in all 
men's souls. — /. R. Lowell. 

Poetry, with all its obscurity, has a more general as well as a more 
powerful dominion over the passions than the art of painting. — Burke. 

All that is best in the great poets of all countries, is not what is 
national in them, but what is universal. — Longfellow. 

Poetry begotten of passion is ever debasing; poetry born of real 
heartfulness, always ennobles and uplifts.— A. A. Hopkins. 

One merit of poetry few will deny; it says more, and in fewer 
words, than prose. — Voltaire. 

He who, in an enlightened and literary society, aspires to be a great 
poet, must first become a little child.— Macaulay. 

They learn in suffering what they teach in song.— Shelley. 



EDUCATION. 



CLASSICS, PRO AND CON. 41 



CLASSICS, PRO AND CON. 

" A man who is ignorant of foreign languages is ignorant of his 
own." — Goethe. 

" As a hawk flieth not high with one wing, even so a man reacheth 
not to excellence with one tongue." — Roger Ascham. 

"There was speech in their dumbness; language in their very 
gesture." — Shakespeare. 

Many persons who have not time or opportunity to 
master several languages excuse their inefficiency in their own 
language by referring to such quotations as are given above. 
Others who< would otherwise persevere, become discouraged 
by this class of ideas, usually held out by classical scholars. 
Even yet, the classical colleges persist in holding the degree 
of Master of Arts as superior in rank to any degree obtained 
for completing an elective course, or any regular technical 
course that does not involve the dead languages; even 
though such elective or technical course requires as much or 
more time for its completion. The principal force of their 
argument is that English is largely derived from the Latin and 
Greek, and to understand a word properly, one should under- 
stand its remote derivation. 

It is true that about thirty per cent, of English words 
are derived from Latin, either direct^ or through the French, 
Spanish or Italian, while about four per cent, are from the 
Greek; but it is also true that more than half the Latin and 
nearly all the Greek words are restricted to scientific or tech- 
nical uses, leaving but a small percentage of conversational 
English that is of other than Anglo-Saxon origin. 

In presenting the best thoughts of best thinkers along 
this line, we quote from Wm. Mathews, LL. D., in "Words; 
Their Use and Abuse," a part of a chapter on " The Secret 
of Apt Words." One special reason for making this selec- 



42 BEST THOUGHTS OF BDST THINKERS. 

tion is that this author describes the style of so many other 
writers in illustration of his own thoughts, and thus the reader 
gets a broad and comprehensive view of the question of En- 
glish for those who speak English only. Dr. Mathews says: 

" ' We have had to notice over and over again/ says 
Mr. Whitney, in his late work on " The Life and Growth of 
Language," ' the readiness on the part of language users to 
forget origins, to cast aside as, cumbrous rubbish the ety- 
mological suggestiveness of a term, and concentrate force 
upon the new and more adventitious tie. This is one of the 
most fundamental and valuable tendencies in name-making; 
it constitutes an essential part of the practical availability of 
language.' 

" If a knowledge of Greek and Latin are necessary to 
him who would command all the resources of our tongue, how 
comes it that the most consummate mastery of the English 
language is exhibited by Shakespeare? Will it be said that 
his writings prove him to have been a classical scholar; that 
they abound in facts and allusions which imply an intimate 
acquaintance with the masterpieces of Greek and Roman 
literature ? We answer that this is a palpable begging of the 
question. By the same reasoning we can prove that scores 
of English authors, who, we know positively, never read a 
page of Latin or Greek, were, nevertheless, classical scholars. 
By similar logic we can prove that Shakespeare followed 
every calling in life. Lawyers vouch for his acquaintance 
with law; physicians for his, skill in medicine; mad-doctors 
for his, knowledge of the phenomena of mental disease; 
naturalists assert positively, from the internal evidence of his 
works, that he was, a botanist and entomologist; bishops, 
that he was a theologian ; and claims have been put forth for 
his dexterity in cutting up sheep and bullocks. Ben Jonson 
tells us that he had " small Latin and less Greek ; " another 
contemporary, that he had " little Latin and no* Greek." 
"Small Latin," indeed, it must have been, which a youth could 
have acquired in his position, who married and entered upon 
the duties of active life at eighteen. The fact that transla- 



CLASSICS, PRO AND CON. 43 

tions were abundant in the poet's time, and that all the liter- 
ature of that day was steeped in classicism, will fully account 
for Shakespeare's knowledge of Greek and Roman history, 
as well as for the classical turns of expression which we find 
in his plays. 

" But it may be said that Shakespeare, the oceanic, the 
many-souled, was phenomenal, and that no rules can be based 
on the miracles of a cometary genius who has had no peer 
in the ages. What shall we say, then, to Isaak Walton ? Can 
purer, more idiomatic, or more attractive English be found 
within the covers of any book than that of " The Complete 
Angler?" Among all the controversialists of England, is. 
there one whose words hit harder, — are more like cannon- 
balls, — than those of Cobbett? By universal concession he 
was master of the whole vocabulary of invective, 220 and in 
narration his, pen is pregnant with the freshness of green 
fields and woods ; yet neither he nor " honest Isaak " ever 
dug up a Greek root, or unearthed a Latin derivation. Again, 
what shall we say of Keats, who could not read a line of 
Greek, yet who was the most thoroughly classical of all Eng- 
lish authors, — whose soul was, so saturated with the Greek 
spirit that Byron said " he was a Greek himself." Or what 
will the Classicists do with Lord Erskine, confessedly the 
greatest forensic orator since Demosthenes? He learned but 
the elements of Latin, and in Greek went scarcely beyond the 
alphabet ; but he devoted himself in youth with intense ardor 
to the study of Milton and Shakespeare, committing whole 
pages of the former to memory, and so familiarizing himself 
with the latter that he could almost, like Porson, have held 
conversation on all subjects for days together in the phrases 
of the great English dramatist. It was here that he acquired 
that fine choice of words, that richness of thought, and 
gorgeousness of expression, that beautiful rhythmus of his 
sentences, which charmed all who heard him. 

" If one must learn English through the Greek and Latin, 
how shall we account for the admirable, — we had almost 
said, inimitable, — style of Franklin? Before he knew any- 
thing of foreign languages, he had formed his style, and 



44 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

gained a wide command of words by the study of the best 
English models. Is the essayist, Edwin P. Whipple, a master 
of the English language? He was not, we believe, classic- 
ally educated, yet it would be hard to name an American 
author who has a greater command of all the resources of ex- 
pression. His style varies in excellence, — sometimes, per- 
haps, lacks simplicity; but, as a rule, it is singularly copious, 
nervous, and suggestive, and clear as a pebbled rill. What 
is the secret of this command of our tongue? It is his famil- 
iarity with our English literature. His sleepless intellect has 
fed and fattened on the whole race of English authors, from 
Chaucer to Currer Bell. The profound, sagacious wisdom 
of Bacon, and the nimble, brilliant wit of Sidney Smith ; the 
sublime mysticism of Sir Thomas Browne, and the rich, 
mellow, tranquil beauty of Taylor; Johnson's learned sock 
and Hey wood's ease; the gorgeous, organ-toned eloquence 
of Milton, and the close, bayonet-like logic of Chillingworth ; 
the sweet-blooded wit of Fuller, and Butler's rattling fire of 
fun; Spencer's voluptuous beauty, and the lofty rhetoric, 
scorching wit, and crushing argument of South; Pope's 
neatness, brilliancy, and epigrammatic point, and Dryden's 
energy and "full-resounding line;" Byron's sublime unrest 
and bursts of misanthropy, and Wordsworth's, deep sentiment 
and sweet humanities; Shelley's wild, imaginative melody, 
and Scott's picturesque imagery and antiquarian lore; the 
polished witticism of Sheridan, and the gorgeous periods of 
Burke, — with all these writers and every other o>f greater or 
less note, even those in the hidden nooks and crannies of our 
literature, he has held converse, and drawn from them ex- 
pressions for every exigency of his thought. 

" To all these examples we may add one, if possible, 
still more convincing, that of the late Hugh Miller, who-, as 
Professor Marsh justly remarks, had few contemporaneous 
superiors as a clear, forcible, accurate and eloquent writer, 
and who uses the most cumbrous Greek compounds as freely 
as monosyllabic English particles. His style is literally the 
despair of all other English scientific writers; yet it is 
positively certain that he was wholly ignorant of all languages 



CLASSICS, PRO AND CON. 45 

but that in which he wrote, and its northern provincial dia- 
lects. 

" As to the oft-quoted saying of Goethe, to which the 
objector is so fond of referring, we may say with Professor 
Marsh, that, " if by knowledge of a language is meant the 
power of expressing or conceiving the laws of a language in 
formal rules, the opinion may be well-founded; but, if it 
refers to the capacity of understanding, and skill in properly 
using our own tongue, all observation shows it to be very 
wide of the truth." Goethe himself, the same authority de- 
clares, was an indifferent linguist; he apparently knew little 
of the remoter etymological sources of his own tongue, or the 
special philologies of the cognate languages ; and " it is 
difficult to trace any of the excellencies of his marvellously 
felicitous, style to the direct imitation, or even the unconsci- 
ous influence of foreign models." But he was a profound 
student of the great German writers of the sixteenth century ; 
and hence his works are a test example in refutation of the 
theory that ascribes so exaggerated a value to classical studies. 
" It is a remarkable fact which throws a flood of light 
upon this subject, that the greatest masters of style in all the 
ages were the Greeks, who yet knew no word of any lan- 
guage but their own. In the most flourishing period of their 
literature, they had no grammatical system, nor did they ever 
make any but the most trivial researches in etymology. The 
wise and learned nations among the ancients, says Locke, 
" made it a part of education to cultivate their own, not for- 
eign languages. The Greeks counted all other nations bar- 
barous, and had a contempt for their languages. And though 
the Greek learning grew in credit amongst the Romans, 
* * * yet it was the Roman tongue that was made the 
study of their youth ; their own language they were to make 
use of, and therefore it was their own language they were 
instructed and exercised in." Demosthenes, the greatest 
master of the Greek language, and one of the mightiest mast- 
ers of expression the world has seen, knew no other tongue 
than his own. He modelled his style after that of Thucy- 
dides, whose wonderful compactness, terseness, and strength 



4& BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

of diction were derived from no study of old Pelasgic, Phoe- 
nician, Persian, or other primitive etymologies of the Attic 
speech, — of which he knew nothing, — but the product of his 
own marvellous genious wreaking itself upon expression. 

" No riches are without inconvenience. The men of 
many tongues almost inevitably lose their peculiar raciness 
of home-bred utterance, and their style, like their words, has 
a certain polyglot character. It has been observed by an acute 
Oxford professor, that the Romans, in exact proportion to 
their study of Greek, paralyzed some of the finest powers 
of their own language. Schiller tells, us that he was in the 
habit of reading as little as possible in foreign languages, 
because it was his business to write German, and he thought 
that by reading other languages, he should lose his nicer per- 
ceptions of what belonged to his own. Dryden attributed 
most of Cowley's defects to his continental associations, and 
said that his losses at home overbalanced his gains from 
abroad. Thomas More, who was a fine classical scholar, 
tells us that the perfect purity with which the Greeks wrote 
their own language, was justly attributed to their abstinence 
from every other. It is a saying as old as Cicero, that women, 
being accustomed solely to their native tongue, usually speak 
and write with a grace and purity surpassing those of men. 
" A man who thinks the knowledge of Latin essential to' the 
purity of English diction," says Macaulay, " either has never 
conversed with an accomplished woman, or does not deserve 
to have conversed with her. We are sure that all persons 
who are in the habit of hearing public speaking must have 
observed that the orators who are fond of quoting Latin are 
by no means the most scrupulous about marring their native 
tongue. We could mention several members of Parliament, 
who never fail to usher in their scraps of Horace and Juvenal 
with half a dozen false concords. " 

i 
"Mr. Buckle, in "his "History of Civilization in Eng- 
land," does not hesitate to express the opinion that " our 
great English scholars have corrupted the English language 
by jargon so uncouth that a plain man can hardly discern *he 



CLASSICS, PRO AND CON. 47 

real lack of ideas which their barbarous and mottled dialect 
strives to hide." He then adds that the principal reason why 
well-educated women write and converse in a purer style than 
well-educated men, is " because they have not formed their 
tastes according to those ancient classical standards, which, 
admirable as they are in themselves, should never be intro- 
duced into the state of society unfitted for them." To nearly 
the same effect is the declaration of the most acute judge of 
style, Thomas De Ouincey, who says that if you would read 
our noble language in its, native beauty, picturesque form, 
idiomatic propriety, racy in its phraseology, delicate yet sin- 
ewy in its composition, you must steal the mail-bags, and break 
open the women's letters. On the other hand, who has for- 
gotten what havoc Bentley made when he laid his classic 
hand on "Paradise Lost?" What prose style, always ex- 
cepting that of the Areopagitica, is worse for imitation than 
that of Milton, with its long, involved, half-rhythmical peri- 
ods, " dragging, like a wounded snake, their slow length 
along? " Yet Bentley and Milton, whose minds were imbued, 
saturated with Greek literature through and through, were 
probably the profoundest classical scholars that England 
could boast." 

The foregoing argument so cogently stated by Mathews, 
and so ably supported by the authorities, cited, ought to give 
encouragement to the masses who must depend upon general 
reading for all their education beyond what is afforded in the 
public schools. 

Another reason why a thorough knowledge of Latin and 
Greek is not so beneficial to the English scholar as might 
naturally be expected, is the fact that but few such English 
words have retained the full significance indicated by their 
etymology. A few have been exalted; many have been de- 
graded, and nearly all have been modified or restricted until 
the etymology of a word throws but little light on its present 
usage in a general way, and none on the shades of meaning 
which all writers must recognize in order to give their style 
precision. 31 32 



48 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

To illustrate, we quote further from Dr. Mathews Qti 
" Curiosities of Language " : 

" Language, as it daguerreotypes human thought, shares, 
as we have seen, all the vicissitudes of man. It mirrors all the 
changes in the character, tastes, customs, and opinions of a 
people, and shows with unerring faithfulness whether and 
in what degree they advance or recede in culture or morality. 
As new ideas germinate in the mind of a nation, it will de- 
mand new forms of expression; on the other hand, a petri- 
fied and mechanical national mind will as surely betray itself 
in a petrified and mechanical language. It is by no accident or 
caprice that — 

" words, whilom flourishing, 

Pass now no more, but banished from the court, 
Dwell with disgrace among the vulgar sort ; 
And those, which eld's strict doom did disallow 
And damn for bullion, go for current now." 

Often with the lapse of time the meaning of a word 
changes imperceptibly, until after some centuries it becomes 
the very opposite of what it once was. To disinter these old 
meanings out of the 177 alluvium and drift of ages, affords as 
much pleasure to the linguist as to disinter a fossil does to the 
geologist. 

An exact knowledge of the changes of signification which 
words have undergone is not merely a source of pleasure; it 
is absolutely indispensable to the full understanding of old 
authors. Thus for example, Milton and Thompson use 
<l horrent " and " horrid " for bristling, e. g. 

" With dangling ice all horrid." 

Milton speaks of a "savage" (meaning woody, silva) hill, 
and of "amiable" (meaning lovely) fruit. Again, in the 
well-known lines of the " Allegro " where Milton says, 
amongst the cheerful sights of rural morn A 

" And every shepherd tells his tale 
Under the hawthorn in the vale," — 



CLASSICS, PRO AND CON. 49 

the words " telling his tale " do not mean that he is romancing 
or making love to the milkmaid, but that he is counting his 
sheep as they pass the hawthorn, — a natural and familiar 
occupation of shepherds on a summer's morning. The pri- 
mary meaning of " tale " is to count or number, as in the 
German " zahlen." It is thus used in the Book of Exodus, 
which states that the Israelites were compelled to deliver their 
tale of brick. In the English tale and in the French conte the 
secondary meaning has supplanted the first, though we still 
speak of " keeping tally " of " untold gold," and say, " here 
is the sum twice-told." (Note also the word "teller," a bank 
clerk.) 

" It has been said that one of the arts of a great poet or 
prose writer who wishes to add emphasis to his style, — to 1 
bring out all the latent forces of his native tongue, — will 
often consist in reconnecting a word with its original deriva- 
tion, in not suffering it to forget itself and its father's house, 
though it would. This Milton does with signal effect, and so 
frequently that we must often interpret his words rather by 
their classical meanings than by their English use. Thus in 
" Paradise Lost," when Satan speaks of his having been pur- 
sued by " Heaven's afflicting thunder," the poet uses the word 
" afflicting " in its original and primary sense of striking down 
bodily. * * * Mystery is derived from " mu," the imi- 
tation of closing of the lips. Courage is " good heart." 
Anecdote, — from the Greek (not), (out), and (given), — 
meant once a fact not given out or published ; now it means a 
short, amusing story. * * * The instant an anecdote is 
published, it belies its, title; it is no longer an anecdote. Allow- 
ance was formerly used to denote praise or approval; as when 
Shakespeare says, in " Troilus and Cressida," 

" A stirring dwarf we do allowance give 
Before a sleeping giant." 

To prevent, which now means to hinder or obstruct, signified 
in its Latin etymology, to anticipate, to get the start of, to go 
before, and is thus used in the Old Testament. ("I pre- 
vented the dawning of the morning." — Ps. 119.) Girl 



50 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

once designated a young person of either sex. Widow was 
applied to men as well as women. Astonished literally means 
thunderstruck, as its derivation from " attonare " shows. 
Holland, in his translation of Livy, speaks of a knave who 
threw some heavy stones upon a certain king, whereof the 
one smote the king upon the head, the other astonished his 
shoulder." Sagacious once meant quick-smelling, as in the 
line 

"The hound sagacious of the tainted prey." 

Rascal according to Verstegan, primarily meant an " ill- 
favored, lean, and worthless deer." Thus Shakespeare: — 

" Horns ! the noblest deer hath them as large as the rascal." 

Afterwards it denoted the common people, the plebs, as 
distinguished from the populus. A naturalist was once a per- 
son who rejected revealed truth, and believed only in natural 
religion. He is now an investigator of nature and her laws, 
and often a believer in Christianity. Blackguards were form- 
erly the scullions, turnspits, and other meaner retainers in a 
great household, who-, when a change was made from one 
residence to another accompanied and took care of the pots, 
pans, and other kitchen utensils., by which they were smutted. 
Webster, in his play of " The White Devil," speaks of a 
" lousy knave that within these twenty years rode with the 
black guard in the Duke's carriage, among spits and dripping 
pans." * * * 

Bombast, now swelling talk, inflated diction without sub- 
stance, was originally cotton padding. It is derived from the 
Low Latin, bombax, cotton. Chemist once meant the same as 
alchemist. Polite originally meant polished. Cudworth speaks 
of " polite bodies, as looking-glasses." Tidy, which now 
means neat, well arranged, is derived from the old English 
word "tide," meaning time, as in eventide. Tidy (German 
zeitig) is timely, seasonable. As things in right time are apt 
to be in the right place, the transition in the meaning of the 
word is a natural one. * * * Thing primarily meant dis- 



CLASSICS PRO AND CON. 5 1 

course, then solemn discussion, council, court of justice, etc. 
the husting was originally the house-thing, or domestic 
court. 

"Coquets were once male as well as female. Usury 
which now means excessive interest, once meant the taking 
of any interest. A tobacconist was formerly a smoker, not a 
seller, of tobacco. Corpse, now a body from which the breath 
of life has departed, once denoted the living body also; as in 
Surrey. 

"A valiant Corpse, where force and beauty met." 

Incomprehensible has undergone a striking change of meaning 
within the last three centuries. In the Athanasian creed the 
Father, Son and Holy Ghost are spoken of as immense. In 
translating the creed from the Latin in which it was first 
penned, the word immensus was rendered " incomprehensible" 
a word which at that time was not limited to its present sense, 
that is, inconceivable, or beyond or above our understanding, 
but meant " not comprehended within any limits," and ans- 
wered to the original expression and notion of immensity. 

" The word Coincide was primarily a mathematical term, 
as the coincidence of points and lines in geometry. The word 
was soon applied figuratively to identity of opinion, but, ac- 
cording to Prof. Marsh, was not fully popularized, at least 
in America, till 1826. On the Fourth of July of that year, 
the semi-centennial jubilee of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence,. Thomas Jefferson, the author of that manifesto, and John 
Adams, its principal champion on the floor of Congress, both 
also ex-Presidents, died ; and this fact was noticed all over the 
world, and especially in the United States, as a remarkable 
coincidence. The death of ex-President Monroe, also on the 
Fourth of July, five years after, gave increased currency to 
the word. 

"Another striking characteristic of words is their tend- 
ency to contract in form and degenerate in meaning; some- 
times they are ennobled and purified in signification ; but more 
frequently they deteriorate, and from an honorable fall into 
a dishonorable meaning. Humility, with the Greeks, meant 



52 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

meanness of spirit; Paradise, in the oriental tongues, meant 
only a royal park ; regeneration was spoken by the Greeks only 
of the earth in spring time, and of the recollection of forgotten 
knowledge ; sacrament and mystery are words " fetched from 
the very dregs of paganism " to set forth the great truths of 
our redemption. On the other hand, thief, (Anglo-Saxon, 
theow) formerly signified only one of the servile classes; and 
villain, or villein, meant peasant, — the serf who under the 
feudal system was adscriptus glebae. * * * A menial 
was one of many; insolent meant unusual; silly, blessed, — 
the infant Jesus being termed by an old poet " that harmless 
silly babe;" officious signified ready to do kindly offices. De- 
mure was once used in a good sense. Facetious, which now 
has the sense of buffoonish, originally meant urbane. Idiot, 
from the Greek, originally signified only a private man, as 
distinguished from an office holder. Homely formerly meant 
secret and familiar ; and brat, now a vulgar and contemptuous 
word, had anciently a very different signification, as in the 
following lines from an old hymn by Gascoigne : 

" O Israel, O household of the Lord, 

O Abraham's brats, O brood of blessed seed, 

O chosen sheep that loved the Lord indeed." 

i 

"Imp once meant graft; Bacon speaks of "those most 
virtuous and goodly young imps, the Duke of Sussex and his 
brother." A boor was once only a farmer; a scamp a. camp- 
deserter. Speculation first meant the sense of sight; as in 
Shakespeare, 

" Thou hast no speculation in those eyes." 

Next it was metaphorically transferred to mental vision, and 
finally denoted without a metaphor, the reflections and theo- 
ries of philosophers. From the domain of philosophy it has, 
traveled downwards to the offices of stock-jobbers, share- 
brokers, and all men who get their living by their wits, in- 
stead of by the sweat of their brows. * * * Cunning 
once conveyed no idea of sinister or crooked wisdom. " The 
three Persons of the Trinity," says a reverent writer of the 



CLASSICS, PRO AND CON. 53 

fifteenth century, " are of equal cunning.'' Bacon, a century 
later, used the word in its present sense of a fox-like wisdom ; 
and Locke calls it the " ape of wisdom." * * * 

" Paramour meant originally a lover; a minion was a fav- 
orite; and knave, the lowest and most contemptuous term we 
can use when insulting another, signified originally, as knabe 
still does in German, a " boy." Subsequently it meant ser- 
vant; thus Paul, in Wickliffe's version of the New Testament, 
reverently terms himself " a knave of Jesus Christ." A 
similar parallel to this is the word varlet which is the same 
as valet. Retaliate, from the Latin " re " (back) and " talis " 
(such), naturally means to pay back in kind, or such as we 
have received. But as, according to Sir Thomas More, men 
write their injuries in marble, the kindnesses done them in 
sand, the word " retaliate " is applied only to offenses or in- 
dignities, and never to favors. The word resent, to feel in 
return, has undergone a similar deterioration. * * * 
Gossip (God-akin) once meant a sponsor in baptism. 

" There are some words which, though not used in an 
absolutely unfavorable sense, yet require a qualifying adjective, 
to be understood favorably. Thus, if a man is said to be noted 
for his curiosity, a prying impertinent, not a legitimate, curi- 
osity is supposed to be meant. So critic and criticise are com- 
monly associated with a carping and fault-finding disposition. 
Parson, {persona ecclesiae), had originally no undertone of 
contempt. In the eighteenth century it had become a nickname 
of scorn ; and it was at a party of a dozen parsons that the Earl 
of Sandwich won his wager, that no one among them had 
brought his prayer-book, or forgotten his cork-screw. * * * 
" ' By a fast man I presume you mean a loose one/ said 
Sir Robert Inglis to one who was describing a rake. Of all 
the words which have degenerated from their original mean- 
ing, the most remarkable is the term dunce, of the history of 
which Archbishop Trench has given a striking account in his 
work on " The Study of Words." In the middle ages, certain 
theologians, educated in the cathedral and cloister schools, 
founded by Charlemagne and his successors, were called school- 
men. Though they were men of great acuteness and subtlety 



54 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

of intellect, their works, at the revival of learning, ceased to be 
popular, and it was considered a mark of intellectual progress 
and advance to have thrown off their yoke. Some persons, 
however, still clung to these schoolmen, especially to Duns 
Scotus, the great teacher of the Franciscan order; and many 
times an adherent of the old learning would seek to strengthen 
his position by an appeal to its great doctor, familiarly called 
Duns ; while his opponents would contemptuously rejoin, " Oh, 
you are a Duns-mm" or more briefly, " You are a Duns." 
As the new learning was enlisting more and more of the 
scholarship of the age on its side, the title became more and 
more a term of scorn, and thus from the long extinct conflict 
between the old and the new learning, the mediaeval and the 
modern theology, we inherit the word " dunce " and 
" duncery." The lot of poor Duns, as the Archbishop observes, 
was certainly a hard one. That the name of the " Subtle 
Doctor," as he was called, one of the keenest and most subtle- 
witted of men, — according to Hooker, " the wittiest of the 
school divines," — should become a mere synonym for stu- 
pidity, was a fate of which even his bitterest enemies would 
never have dreamed. 

" Saunter ers were once pilgrims to the Holy Land (la 
Sainte Terre) who, it was found, took their own time to go 
there. Bit is that which has been bit off, and exactly corres- 
ponds to the word " morsel," used in the same sense, and from 
the Latin, mordere, to bite. Bankrupt means literally broken 
bench. It was the custom in the twelfth and thirteenth cen- 
turies for the Lombard merchants to expose their wares for 
sale in the market-place on benches. When one of the number 
failed, all the other merchants set upon him, drove him from 
the market and broke his bench to pieces. Banco rotto, the 
Italian for bench-broken, becomes banqueroute in French, and 
in English, bankrupt. Alligator is from the Spanish el 
lagarto; " the lizard," being the largest of the lizard species. 
Stipulation is from stipulum, a straw, which the Romans broke 
when they made a mutual engagement. Dexterity is simply 
right-handedness. Mountebank means a quack-medicine ven- 
der, — from the Italian, montare, to mount, and banco, a 



CLASSICS, PRO AND CON. 55 

bench. Literally, one who mounts a bench to boast of his in- 
fallible skill in curing disease. Quandary is a corruption of 
the French qu'en dirai (je)l "what shall I say of it?" and 
expresses that feeling of uncertainty which would naturally 
prompt such a question. Faint is from the French se feindre, 
to pretend ; so that originally f aintness was a pretended weak- 
ness or inability. We have an example of the thing originally 
indicated by the word, in the French theaters, where profess- 
ional fainters are employed, whose business it is to be over- 
come and sink to the floor under the powerful acting of the 
tragedians. 

" Topsy-turvy is said to be a contraction of " top-side 
t'other- way," just as helter-skelter is from hilar iter et celeriter, 
" gaily and quickly," * * * The tendency to regard 
money as the source of true happiness is strikingly illustrated 
in the source of the word wealth, which is connected with weal, 
just as the Latin beatus meant both blessed and rich, and the 
same is true of the Greek. * * * The term blue-stocking, 
applied to literary ladies, has a curious origin. Originally, in 
England, in 1760, it was conferred on a society of literary 
persons of both sexes. The society derived its name from the 
blue worsted stockings always worn by Benjamin Stilling- 
fleet, a distinguished writer who was one of the most active 
promoters of the association. This term was subsequently 
conferred on literary bodies, from the fact that the accom- 
plished and fascinating Mrs. Jerningham wore blue stockings 
at the social and literary entertainments given by Lady Mon- 
tague. Woman is the wif or web-man, who stays at home to 
spin, as distinguished from the weap-man, who goes abroad to 
use the weapons of war. [Note also the word wife, from 
this source.] The term " man " is, of course, gen- 
eric, including both male and female. Lady primarily 
signifies bread-keeper. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon, 
hlafdie, i. e v hlafweardige, bread-keeper, from hlaf, bread, 
loaf, and weardian, to keep, look after. Waist is the same as 
waste; that part of the figure which wastes, — that is, dimin- 
ishes. 



56 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

" Canard has a very curious origin. M. Quetelet, a 
French writer, attributes the first application of this term to 
Norbert Cornellisen, who, to give a sly hit at the ridiculous 
pieces of intelligence in the public journals, stated that an in- 
teresting experiment had just been made calculated to prove 
the voracity of ducks. Twenty were placed together; and 
one of them having been killed and cut up into the smallest pos- 
sible pieces, feathers and all, was thrown to the other nineteen, 
and most gluttonously gobbled up. Another was then taken 
from the nineteen, and being chopped small like its prede- 
cessor, was served up to the eighteen, and at once devoured 
like the other; and so on to the last, who thus was placed in 
the position of having eaten his nineteen companions. This 
story, most pleasantly narrated, ran the rounds of all the 
journals of Europe. It then became almost forgotten for 
about a score of years, when it went back from America with 
amplifications ; but the word remained in its, novel signification. 
* * * Poltroon is pollice truneus, that is, with the thumb 
cut off, — pollex, Latin, meaning thumb, and truneus, maimed 
or mutilated. When the Roman empire was about falling to 
pieces, the valor of the citizens had so degenerated, that, to 
escape fighting, many cut off their right thumbs, thus dis- 
abling themselves from using the pike." 

And thus we might go on for hundreds of pages citing 
peculiar meanings, curious derivations, strange mutations, and 
queer associations of words with ideas more or less congruous 
or compatible; but enough has been given to illustrate the 
fact that even though the study of the etymology of words 
is intensely interesting for its own sake, it is not necessary, or 
even particularly advantageous, to an English writer, because 
so many words have now a changed meaning, while others 
have become restricted to a small fraction of their original 
import. 



laconics. 57 



LACONICS. 

BEST THOUGHTS ON PHILOSOPHY. 

To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts; but 
so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates.— Thoreau. 

Philosophy is the art and law of life, and it teaches us what to 
do in all cases, and, like good marksmen, to hit the white at any 
distance. — Seneca. 

The modern sceptical philosophy consists in believing everything 
but the truth, and exactly in proportion to the want of evidence; in 
making windows that shut out the light; and passages that lead to 
nothing. — Nisbet. 

True philosophy invents nothing; it merely establishes and de- 
scribes what is. — Cousin. 

The discovery of what is true, and the practice of what is good, 
are the two most important objects of philosophy. — Voltaire. 

Philosophy is the art of living. — Plutarch. 

It is not a head merely, but a heart and resolution, which complete 
the real philosophy. — Shaftesbury. 

Philosophy has been called the knowledge of our knowledge ; it 
might more truly be called the knowledge of our ignorance, or in the 
language of Kant, the knowledge of the limits of our knowledge. 

— Max Muller. 

Philosophy is the science which considers truth. — Aristotle. 

It is the bounty of nature that we live, but of philosophy that we 
live well; which is, in truth, a greater benefit than life itself. — Seneca. 

The first business of a philosopher is to part with self-conceit. 

— Bpictetus. 

Philosophy, when superficially studied, excites doubt ; when thor- 
oughly explored, it expels it. — Bacon. 

Be a philosopher, but amid all your philosophy, be still a man. 

— Hume. 

Philosophy, if rightly, defined, is nothing but the love of wisdom. 

— Cicero. 

It is easy for men to write and talk like philosophers, but to act 
with wisdom — there's the rub. — Rivarol. 



58 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Admiration is the foundation of all philosophy; investigation the 
progress; and ignorance the end. — Montaigne. 

He who seeks philosophy in divinity, seeks the dead among the 
living; and he that seeks divinity in philosophy, seeks the living among 
the dead. — Venning. 

To study philosophy is nothing but to prepare one's self to die. 

— Cicero. 

Philosophy alone makes the mind invincible, and places us out of 
the reach of fortune, so that all her arrows fall short of us. — Seneca. 

Divine Philosophy! by whose pure light, 
We first distinguish, then pursue the right; 
Thy power the breast from every error frees, 
And weeds out all its vices by degrees. — Gifford. 



LABOR. 

Labor is life! The still water faileth; 
Idleness ever despaireth, bewaileth; 
Keep the watch wound, for the dark rust assaileth; 
Flowers droop and die in the stillness of noon. 

Labor is glory! The flying cloud lightens; 
Only the waving wing changes and brightens; 
Idle hearts only the dark future frightens ; 

Play the sweet keys, wouldst thou keep them in tune. 

— Osgood. 



GROWTH OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 59 



ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE ENGLISH LAN- 
GUAGE AND LITERATURE. 

As the best thoughts of the best thinkers are only avail- 
able through the medium of language, a concise resume of the 
origin and growth of the language we speak cannot fail to be 
of interest to all who realize their indebtedness to language 
for the blessings of civilization. As shown in our Symposium, 
No. 453, " Language is the product, the instrument, and the 
embodiment of thought." A three-fold relation is thus seen to 
exist between thought and language, and since thought is the 
very essence of our lives, and is dependent in so many ways 
upon language, it is not to be wondered at that every thinker 
reads with eagerness any reliable information concerning the 
" Mother-tongue." 

Reverting, then, to the origin of English, it will be seen 
by reference to the Symposium, No. 590, that the earliest form 
of English was a combination of Angle and Saxon, both of 
which were Dutch dialects of the Low German branch of the 
Germanic branch of the Teutonic, the Teutonic being one of 
the seven original branches of the Indo-European and a broth- 
er of the Sanscrit, which was the language spoken in India 
until within three or four centuries before the Christian 
era. The Goths, (or Teutons), occupied the lower course of 
the Weichsel (Vistula) in modern Poland and Prussia, be- 
tween Warsaw and Dantzic. Here they remained as late as 
150 A. D., but in the second century, on account of trouble 
with their Finno-Hunnish neighbors, they went to the northern 
side of the lower Danube, and the northwestern shore of the 
Black Sea. 

Their descendants spread to the west over the district 
between the Elbe and the Rhine, and here we find them as 
Saxons, Angles and Jutes, (though the last named were not 



60 BEST THOUGHTS OP BEST THINKERS. 

then known by that name). The Angles live in a district 
still called Angeln, in the south of Schleswig, and the Jutes 
were a small tribe in the north of Schleswig. Without follow- 
ing up their further advances over Denmark, Norway, Swe- 
den, Iceland and Greenland, resulting in the establishment of 
the Scandinavian family of languages, it is pertinent for us 
to note the movements of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, oc- 
cupying the above described territory in the fifth century. 

Now, a word about Britain, — and bear in mind that up 
to this time, there was no such country as England, for the 
Angles had not yet occupied Britain. About the year 55 B. 
C, Caesar disclosed Britain to the Romans. At that time 
Britain was occupied by Celts, who also inhabited Gaul 
(France), a part of Spain, Northern Italy, and part of Central 
Europe. The languages spoken by the Celts in Britain were 
Erse (Irish), Welsh, Armorican, Scotch, and Manx. The 
Romans under Agricola conquered the Celts, but did not drive 
them away, — simply established Roman rule, exacted tribute 
taxed land, collected customs and exported corn. In other 
words, the Roman occupation of Britain was only a military 
occupation, maintained by fortified posts, — Eboricum (York), 
the central one — and in the year 420 A. D., the Roman sol- 
diery was called back to Rome to defend the Imperial City 
against the northern hordes. 

Now, it will be seen that the connection of the Romans 
with the Celts was not such as to affect the language of 
Britain, for although the Roman soldiers spoke Latin in Brit- 
ain, there was no intermingling of the races, nor building up 
of homes ; and therefore when the Roman army was recalled, 
all the Latin that had ever been in Britain went out of it, and 
the Celts were left to their original possession for about thirty 
years, until attacked by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes from 
across the North Sea. 

We have explained the situation concerning Britain dur- 
ing these preceding centuries to show that, although the Eng- 
lish language is now greatly enriched by words from many 
of the Latin languages, the Roman conquest was not the cause 
of introducing Latin words into English. 



GROWTH OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 6l 

In the northeast corner of Britain, where the land juts 
out into the sea, is Jutland. A certain small tribe of warlike 
men came over the North Sea from Schleswig, and took forci- 
ble possession of that point, and the Celts called them Jutes, — 
those that lived on the jut. The Jutes were soon followed by- 
much larger numbers from Angeln and Saxony, who drove the 
Celts back to Ireland, Scotland and Wales. This invasion of 
Britain by the Germanic tribes took place in the fifth century, 
and the blending of the two languages, the Angle and the 
Saxon, constituted Anglo-Saxon. The Anglo-Saxon language 
endured in this form from its formation about A. D. 450 until 
about 1 1 50, when certain changes took place that brought it 
into the form which we now call Early English. It is a singu- 
lar fact that although the Angles bestowed their name upon 
English, the language itself was almost wholly Saxon. In- 
deed, Anglo-Saxon was Saxon slightly modified by the dialect 
of the Angles. Early English held its form for two hundred 
years, passing into Middle English, which, after another two 
hundred years, developed into Modern English, dating from 
1550 to the present time, — and still growing. 

Having thus broadly sketched the conditions of time and 
place antecedent to the origin of English, we now note some of 
the earliest individual efforts on record, both as to who labored 
in the cause of literature, and what he accomplished. It mus,t 
also be noted at this point that spoken language does not con- 
stitute literature, and, therefore, a considerable time is likely 
to elapse between the formation of a new speech and any en- 
during record of the same. We are able to go back, however, 
to about the year 670, and we present herewith the oldest 
sample extant, an Anglo-Saxon poem entitled " Beowulf," in 
which is described the dwelling place of the Grendel, a man- 
fiend that devoured men, and whom Beowulf overcomes in 
battle. 



62 



BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



Hie Dygel lond 
Warigeadh, Wulf-hleodhu, 

Windige naessas, 
Frecne Fen-gelad, 

thser Fyrgen-stream, 
under Naessa ge-Nipu, 

Nidher gewitedh, 
Flod under Foldan. 

Nis thaet Feor heonon, 
Mil-ge-Mearces, 

that se Mere standedh, 
ofer thaem Hongiadh 

Hrimge bearwas, 
Wudu Wyrtum faest, 

Waeter oferhelmadh. 



They that Dark land 
Ward, the Wolf-dens, 

Windy crags, 
the Fearful Fen-path 

where the mountain-Flood 
beneath the Crags' Coverts 

downward Crashes, 
a Flood under the Field. 

That is not Far hence, 
a Mile's Marking, 

that the Mere standeth, 
over which Rise 

Rime-covered forests, 
Woods with roots fast 

the Water overhang. 

Unes 1358-1365. 



Fedha eal ge-Saet; 
ge-sawon tha sefter Waetere 

Wyrm-cynnes fela, 
Sellice Sse-dracan 

Sund cunnian ; 
swylce on Nses-hleodhum 

Nicras licgean, 
tha on Undern-mael 

Oft bewitigadh 
Sorh-fulne Sidh 

on Segl-rade, 
Wyrmas and Wil-deor. 



The Band all sat, 
saw they along the Water 

of the Worm-kind many, 
Strange Sea-dragons 

trying the Sound; 
also in Mountain clefts 

Monsters lying, 
which in Early-morning 

■ Often keep 
their Sorrowful Stretch 

on the Sail-road, 
Worms and Wild beasts. 

Lines 1425-1431. 



Caedmon's paraphrase of the Bible is a religious poem 
of about the same date, but we omit further examples of this 
very early period, as they cannot be read without translation ; 
and give, instead, a brief account of the writers, as described 
by Stopford Brooke and others. In quoting such paragraphs 
throughout the remainder of this article, we wish to be under- 
stood as giving the best thoughts of the best thinkers about 
thinkers. 



" The story of Caedmon, as told by Baeda, proves that 
the making of songs was common at that time. Caedmon 
was a servant to the monastery of Hild, an abbess of royal 
blood, at Whitby in Yorkshire. He was somewhat aged 



GROWTH OF ENGUSH LANGUAGE. 63 

when the gift of song came to him, and he knew nothing of 
the art of verse, so that at the feasts, when for the sake of 
mirth all sang, in turn, he left the table. One night, having 
done so and gone to the stables, for he had care of the cattle, 
he fell asleep, and One came to him in a vision and said, 
' Caedmon, sing me some song.' And he answered, ' I can- 
not sing; for this cause I left the feast and came hither.' 
Then said the other, ' However, you shall sing.' ' What shall 
I sing?' the replied. ' Sing the beginning of created things,' 
answered the other. Whereupon he began to sing verses to 
the praise of God, and, awaking, remembered what he had 
sung, and added more in verse worthy of God. In the morn- 
ing he came to the steward, and told him of the gift he had 
received, and, being brought to Hild, was ordered to tell 
his dream before learned men that they might give judgment 
whence his verses came. And when they had heard, they all 
said that heavenly grace had been conferred on him by our 
Lord." 

" Caedmon's poem, written about 670, is for us the be- 
ginning of English poetry, and' the story of its origin ought 
to> be loved by us. Nor should we fail to reverence the place 
where it began. Above the small and land-locked harbor of 
Whitby rises and juts, out toward the sea the dark cliff where 
Hild's monastery stood, looking out over the German ocean. 
It is a wild, wind-swept upland, and the sea beats furiously 
beneath, and standing there one feels that it is a fitting birth- 
place for the poetry of the sea-ruling nation. Nor is the 
verse of the first poet without the stormy note of the scenery 
among which it was written. In it, also, the old, fierce, war 
element is felt when Caedmon comes to sing the wrath of the 
rebel angels with God, and the overthrow of Pharaoh's host, 
and the lines repeating, as was the old English way, the 
thought a second time, fall like stroke on stroke in battle. 
But the poem is religious throughout — Christianity speaks in 
it simply, sternly, with fire, and brings with it a new world 
of spiritual romance and feeling. The subjects, of the poem 
were taken from the bible; in fact, Caedmon paraphrased the 
Old and New Testament. He sang the creation of the world, 



64 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

the history of Israel, the book of Daniel, the whole story of 
the life of Christ, future judgment, purgatory, hell, and 
heaven. All who heard it, thought it divinely given. ' Others 
after him,' says Bseda, ' tried to make religious poems, but 
none could vie with him, for he did not learn the art of poetry 
from men, nor of men, but from God.' It was, thus that Eng- 
lish song began in religion. The most famous passage of the 
poem not only illustrates the dark sadness, the fierce love of 
freedom, and the power of painting distinct characters which 
has always, marked English poetry, but it is also famous for 
a parallel passage in Milton. It is when Caedmon described 
the proud and angry cry of Satan against God from his bed 
of chains in hell. The two great English poets may be 
brought together over a space of a thousand years in another 
way, for both died in such peace that those who watched be- 
side them knew not when they died." 

" Of the lesser Old English poems that came after Caed- 
mon's, we have few remains. But we have many things said 
which show us that his poem, like all great works, gave birth 
to a number of similar ones. The increase of monasteries, 
where men of letters lived, naturally made the written poetry 
religious. But an immense quantity of secular poetry was 
sung about the country. Aldhelm, a young man when Caed- 
mon died, and afterwards Abbot of Malmsbury, united the 
song maker to the religious poet. He was a skilled musician, 
and it was said that he had not his equal in the making or 
singing of English verse. His songs were popular in King 
Alfred's time, and a pretty story tells that, when the trad- 
ers came into the town on Sunday, he, in the character of a 
gleeman, stood on the bridge and sang them songs, with which 
he mixed up scripture text and teaching. 

" Of all this wide-spread poetry, we have now only the 
few poems brought together in a book preserved at Exeter, 
in another found at Vercelli, and in a few leaflets of manu- 
script. The poems in the Vercelli book are all religious — 
legends of saints and addresses to the soul; those in the 
Exeter book are hymns and sacred poems. The famous Trav- 
eler's song and the Lament of Deor inserted in it are of the 



GROWTH OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 65 

older pagan time. In both, there are poems by Cynewulf, 
whose work is remarkably fine. They are all Christian in tone. 
The few touches of nature in them dwell on gentle, not on 
savage, scenery. They are sorrowful when they speak of the 
life of men, tender when they touch on the love of home, 
as tender as this little bit which still lives for us out of that 
old world: 

" Dear is the welcome guest to the Frisian wife when 
the vessel strands; his ship is come, and her husband to his 
house, her own provider. And she welcomes him in, washes 
his weedy garments, and clothes him anew. It is pleasant on 
shore to him whom his love awaits." 

" Of the scattered pieces the finest are two fragments, 
one long, on the story of Judith, and another short, in which 
Death speaks to Man, and describes ' the low and hateful and 
doorless house/ of which he keeps the key. But stern as 
the fragment is, with its English manner of looking dreadful 
things in the face, and with its English pathos, the religious 
poetry of this time always went with faith beyond the grave. 
Thus we are told that King Eadgar, in the ode on his death 
in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ' chose for himself another 
light, beautiful and pleasant, and left this feeble life.' ' 

" The war poetry of England at this time was probably 
as plentiful as the religious. But it was not likely to be 
written down by the writers who lived in religious houses. 
It was sung from feast to feast and in the halls of kings, 
and it naturally decayed when the English were trodden down 
by the Normans. But we have two examples of what kind 
it was and how fine it was, in the Battle Song of Brunmv- 
burh, 937, and in the Song of the Fight of Maidon, 991. A 
still earlier fragment exists in a short account of the Battle of 
Finnesburg, probably of the same time and belonging to as 
long a story as the story of Beowulf. Two short odes on the 
victories of King Eadmund and on the coronation of King 
Eadgar, inserted in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, complete the 
list of war poems. The songs of Brunanburh and Maidon 
are fine war odes, the fitting sources, both in their short 
and rapid lines and in their almost Homeric simplicity and 



66 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

force, of such war songs as the Battle of the Baltic, and the 
Charge of the Light Brigade. The first described the fight 
of King ^Ethelstan with Anlaf the Dane. From morn till 
night they fought till they were ' weary of red battle ' in 
the ' hard hand play,' till five young kings and seven earls 
of Anlaf's host lay in that fighting place ' quieted by swords,' 
and the Northmen fled, and only the ' screamers of war were 
left behind, the black raven and the eagle to feast on the 
white flesh and the greedy battle-hawk, and the grey beast, 
the wolf in the wood.' The second is, the story of Brihtnoth, 
an ealdorman of Northumbria, in battle against the Danes. 
It contains 690 lines. In the speeches of heralds and warriors 
before the fight, in the speeches and single combats of the 
chiefs, in the loud laugh and mock which follow a good 
death stroke, in the rapid rush of the verse when the battle 
is joined, the poem, though broken, as Homer's verse is not, 
is Homeric. In the rude chivalry which disdains to 1 take 
vantage ground of the Danes, in the way in which the friends 
and churls of Brihtnoth die, one by one, avenging their 
lord, keeping faithful to the tie of kinship and clanship, in 
the cry not to yield a foot's breadth of earth, in the loving 
sadness with which home is spoken of, the poem is English 
to the core. And in the midst of it all, like a song from 
another land, but a song heard often in English fights from 
then till now, is the last prayer of the great earl, when, dying, 
he commends his soul with thankfulness to God." 

So much for Old English poetry. Baeda, born about 
673, is counted by some as the earliest writer of English 
prose. Like Csedmon, he was a Northumbrian, and forty- 
five works prove his industry, while their fame over the 
whole of learned Europe during his time proves their value. 
His learning was various as it was great. All that the world 
then knew of science, music, medicine, rhetoric, arithmetic, 
astronomy and physics was brought together by him; and 
his life was as gentle and himself as loved as his work was 
great. His books were in Latin, and with these we are not 
now concerned, but his was the first effort to make English 
prose a literary language. His last work was a translation 



GROWTH OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 67 

of the Gospel of St. John. It is in the greatness and vari- 
ety of Baeda's Latin works, however, that English literature 
strikes its key-note. Six hundred scholars gathered around 
Baeda ere he died; but toward the end of his life this 
northern literature began to decay, and after 866 it was, 
we may say, blotted out by the Danes. The long battle with 
these invaders was lost in Northumbria, but it was gained 
for a time by Alfred the Great in Wessex; and with Alf- 
red's literary work learning changed its seat from the north 
to the south, and he made it by his writings, an English, 
not a Latin literature. In his translation, he* since Baeda's 
work is lost, is the true father of English prose. J. R. Green 
says of him : 

" With the peace of Wedmore in 878 began a work even 
more noble than this deliverance of Wessex from the Danes. 
' So long as I have lived,' wrote Alfred in latter days, ' I have 
striven to live worthily.' He longed, when death overtook 
him, 'to leave to the men that come after a remembrance of 
me in good works.' The aim has been more than fulfilled. The 
memory of the life and doings of the noblest of English 
rulers has come down to us living and distinct through the 
mists of exaggeration and legend that gathered around it. 
He really lived for the good of his people. He is the first 
instance, in the history of Christendom, of the Christian 
King, of a ruler who put aside every personal aim or ambi- 
tion to devote himself to the welfare of those whom he ruled." 

Submitting the foregoing examples of the beginning of 
English literature as evidenced by the earliest writers of 
Anglo-Saxon, we now leap over a space of nearly 700 years, 
during which time literature very much declined on account 
of the Norman Conquest. The historical events of this period 
we shall present in a separate article devoted to the salient 
points of history, without special reference to literature. 

Mandeville, Wicklif, and Chaucer are the leading lights 
of a constellation that rose above the literary horizon about 
the year 1300. By this time the language had developed from 
the Anglo-Saxon form into what we now call the Early Eng- 



68 BEST THOUGHTS OE BEST THINKERS. 

lish; and while the reader peruses the quotations we give 
and notes the advances made both in thought and expression, 
he should bear in mind that all this progress, both in quantity 
and quality, was made more than a hundred years before 
printing was invented. 

Sir John Mandeville was a renowned traveller, and all 
writers agree that he was a most remarkable man, since he 
accomplished so much at a time when no reasonably fair fa- 
cilities existed. To show how he stood in his own country, 
we quote from John Bale, who wrote of him about two 
hundred years later: 

"John Mandevil Knight, borne in the towne of S. Al- 
bans, was so well given to the study of learning from his 
childhood, that he seemed to plant a good part of his felicitie 
in the same; for he supposed that the honour of his Birth 
would nothing availe him, except he could render the same 
more honourable, by his knowledge in good letters. Having 
therefore well grounded himself in Religion, by reading the 
Scriptures, he applied his studies to the Art of Physicke, a 
profession worthy a noble Wit : but amongst other things, 
he was ravished with a mightie desire to see the greater 
parts of the world, as Asia and Africa. Having therefore 
provided all things necessary for his journey, he departed 
from his Countrey in the yeere of Christ 1322; and as an- 
other Ulysses, returned home, after the space of thirty-four 
yeeres, and was then knowen to a very fewe. In the time 
of his Travaile he was in Scythia, the greater and lesse 
Armenia, Egypt, both Libyas, Arabia, Syria, Media, Mes- 
opotamia, Persia, Chaldaea, Greece, Illyrium, Tartarie, and 
divers other Kingdomes of the World : and having gotten 
by this meanes the knowledge of the Languages, least so many 
and great varieties, and things miraculous, whereof himself 
had bene an eie witnes, should perish in oblivion, he com- 
mitted his whole Travell of thirty-four yeeres to writing, in 
three divers tongues, English, French and Latine. Being 
arrived again in England and having seene the wickedness 
of that age, he gave out this Speech : ' In our time, (said he) 



GROWTH OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 69 

it may be spoken more truly then of olde, that Vertue is 
gone, the Church is under foote, the Clergie is in errour, 
the Devil raigneth, and Simonie beareth sway.' " 

Passing by much that many others have written of John 
Mandeville, we now quote some of his own writings, illus- 
trative of the spelling and general construction of words in 
the Early English. 

First, from the Prologue: "And for als moche (for- 
asmuch) as it is longe tyme passed, that ther was no gener- 
alle Passage ne Vyage over the See; and many Men desiren 
for to here speke of the Holy Lond, and han (have) thereof 
gret solace and Comfort; I John Maundevylle, Knyght, 
alle be it I be not worthi, that was born in Englond, in the 
Town of Seynt Albones, passed the See, in the Zeer of our 
Lord Jesu Crist MCCCXXII, in the Day of Seynt Michelle; 
and hidre to (hitherto) have been longe tyme over the See, 
and have seyn and gon thorghe manye dyverse Londes, and 
many Provynces and Kingdomes and lies, and have passed 
thorghe Tartarye, Percye, Ermonye (Armenia) the litylle 
and the grete; thorghe Lybye, Caldee, and a gret partie of 
Ethiope; thorghe Amazoyne, Inde, the lasse and the more, 
a gret partie; and thorghe out (throughout) many othere 
lies, that ben abouten Inde; where dwellen many dyverse 
Folkes, and of dyverse Maneres and Lawes, and of dyverse 
Schappes (shapes) of men. Of whiche Londes and lies, 
I schalle speke more pleynly hereaftre. And I schalle devise 
zou sum partie of thinges that there ben, whan time schalle 
ben, aftre it may best come to my mynde; and specyally 
for hem, that wylle and are in purpos for to visite the Holy 
Citee of Jerusalem, and the holy Places that are thereaboute. 
And I schalle telle the Weye, that thei schulle holden thidre. 
For I have often tymes passed and ryden (ridden) the way, 
with gode Companye of many Lordes : God be thonked. 

And Zee schulle understonde, that I have put this Boke 
out of Latyn into Frensche, and translated it azen out of 
Frensche into Englyssche, that every man of my Nacioun 



70 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

may undirstonde it. But Lordes and Knyghtes and other 
noble and worthi Men, that conne (know) Latyn but lityile, 
and han (have) ben bezonde (beyond) the See, knowen and 
undirstonden, zif I erre in devisynge, for forzetynge, (for- 
getting) or elles: that mowe (may) redress it and amende 
it. For thinges passed out of longe tyme from a Mannes 
mynde or from his syght, turnen sone in forzetynge: Be- 
cause that Mynde of Man ne may not ben comprehended ne 
witheholden, for the Freeltee of Mankynde." 

For a sample of John Mandeville's description of the 
countries through which he travelled, we submit next an ex- 
tract from 

"THE CHINESE/' 

" The gret Kyng hath every day, 50 fair Damyseles, 
alle Maydenes, that serven him evermore at his Mete. And 
whan he is at the Table, thei bryngen hys Mete at every 
tyme, 5 and 5 to gedre. And in bryngynge hire (their) 
Servyse, thei Syngen a Song. And aftre that, thei kutten 
his Mete, and putten it in his Mouthe: for he touchethe 
no thing ne handlethe nought, but holdethe evermore his 
Hondes before him, upon the Table. For he hathe so longe 
Nayles, that he may take no thing, ne handle no thing. For 
the Noblesse of that Contree is to have longe Nayles,, and 
to make hem growen alle ways to ben as longe as men may. 
And there ben manye in that Contree, that han hire (have 
their) Nayles so longe, that thei envyronne (environ) alle 
the Hond: and that is a gret Noblesse. And the Noblesse 
of the Women, is for to- haven smale Feet and litille: and 
therefore anon as thei ben born, they leet bynde hire Feet so 
streyte, that thei may not growen half as Nature wolde: 
And alle weys theise Damyseles, that I spak of beforn, 
syngen alii the tyme that this riche man etethe: and when 
that he etethe no more of his firste Cours, thanne other 5 
and 5 of faire Damyseles bryngen him his seconde Cours, 
alle weys syngnge, as. thei dide beforn. And so thei don 
c.ontynuelly every day, to the ende of his Mete. And in this 



GROWTH OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 71 

manere he ledethe his Lif. And so dide thei before him, 
withouten doynge of ony Dedes of Armes : but lyven evere 
more thus in ese, as a Swyn, that is fedde in Sty, for to 
ben made fatte." 

The reader will note next that John Mandeville lived 
more than a hundred years before Christopher Columbus; 
and to show that he out-Columbused Columbus, in the discov- 
ery of the rotundity of the earth, we quote from his observa- 
tions of the stars while navigating southern waters : 

" THE SPHERICAL FORM OF THE EARTH." 

"In that Londe, (Africa), ne in many othere bezonde 
that, no man may see the Sterre transmontane, (the pole 
star), that is clept the Sterre of the See, that is unmevable, and 
that is toward the Northe that we clepen the Lode Sterre. But 
man seen another Sterre, the contrarie to him, that is toward 
the Southe, that is clept Antartyk. And right as the ship 
men taken here Avys here (their advise here), and govern 
hem be the Lode Sterre, right so don schip men bezonde the 
parties, be the Sterre of the Southe, the which Sterre appe- 
rethe not to us. And this Sterre, that is toward the Northe, 
that we clepen the Lode Sterre, ne apperethe not to hem. For 
which cause, men may well perceyve, that the Londe and the 
See ben of rownde schapp and forme. For the partie of the 
Firmament schewethe in o (one) countree, that schewethe 
not in another Contree. And men may well preven be experi- 
ence and sotyle (subtle) compassment of Wytt, that zif a 
man fond passages be Schippes, that wolde go to serchen the 
World, men mighte go be Schippe alle aboute the World, and 
aboven and benethen. And zif I hadde had Companye and 
Schippynge for to go more bezonde, I trowe (think) well in 
certeyn, that wee scholde have seen alle the roundnesse of the 
Firmament alle aboute. 

But how it semethe to symple men unlearned, that men 
ne mowe not (may not) go undre the Erthe, and also that 
men scholde falle toward the Hevene, from undre! But that 
may not be, upon lesse, (unless) than we mowe falle toward 



72 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Hevene, fro the Erthe, where we ben. For fro what partie 
of the Erthe, that men duelle (dwell), outher aboven or 
benethen, it semethe alweys to hem that duellen, that thei 
gon more righte than ony other folk. And righte as it 
semethe to us, that thei ben undre us, right so it semethe 
hem that wee ben undre hem. For zif a man mighte falle fro 
the Erthe unto the Firmament ; be grettere resoun, the Erthe 
and the See, that ben so grete and so hevy, scholde fallen to 
the Firmament : but that may not be." 

JOHN WICLIP. 

John Wiclif, " The Morning Star of the Reformation" 
" Honored of God to be the first Preacher of a Reformation 
to all Europe, " was born in the little village of Wiclif, near 
Richmond, in the northern part of Yorkshire, about the year 
1324. Milton, in his " Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed 
Printing," thus remarks, " Had it not been for the obstinate 
perverseness of our Prelates against the divine and admirable 
spirit of Wiclif, to suppress him as a schismatic or innovator, 
perhaps neither the Bohemian Husse and Jerome, no, nor 
the name of Luther or of Calvin, had ever been known." 
Professor Le Bas says, "Allowing, however, if we must, to 
Luther, the highest niche in this sacred department of the 
Temple of Renown, I know not who can be chosen to fill the 
next, if it shall be denied to Wiclif." Charles D. Cleveland 
says, " In the extent and variety of his knowledge he sur- 
passed all the learned men of his age." The number of his 
writings still extant, though very many were burnt by order 
of the Pope, is truly astonishing. Most of these now exis.t in 
manuscript, in the public libraries in England and Ireland, 
and some in the Imperial Library at Vienna. His great work 
was the translation of the Scriptures, and to him belongs the 
high honor of having given to the English nation the first 
translation of the entire Scriptures in their mother tongue, 
which he made, however, not from the original languages, 
but from the Latin Vulgate. The following are his reasons 
for his great undertaking: 






GROWTH OF ENGUSH LANGUAGE. 73 

wicuf's apology. 
"Oh .Lord God! sithin (since) at the beginning of 
faith, so many men translated into Latin, and to great profit 
of Latin men; let one simple creature of God translate into 
English, for profit of Englishmen, For, if worldly clerks 
look well their chronicles and books, they shoulden find that 
Bede translated the Bible, and expounded much in Saxon, 
that was English, either (or) common language of this land 
in his time. And not only Bede but King Alfred, that 
founded Oxenford, translated in his last days, the beginning 
of the Psalter into Saxon, and would more if he had lived 
longer. Also, Frenchmen, Bemers (Bohemians) and Britons 
han the Bible and other books of devotion and exposition 
translated into their mother language. Why shoulden not 
Englishmen have the same in their mother language? I can- 
not wit. No, but for falseness or negligence of clerks, either 
for (or because) our people is not worthy to have so great 
grace and gift of God, in pain of their old sins." 

For this noble labor which he completed in 1380, he re- 
ceived abuse without measure from the priests. The follow- 
ing is but a mild specimen of Papal rage : " This Master 
Joh Wiclif translated out of Latin into English, the Gospel 
which Christ had intrusted with the clergy and doctors of the 
church, that they might minister it to the laity and weaker 
sort, according to the exigency of times and their several 
occasions. So that by this means the Gospel is made vulgar, 
and laid more open to the laity, and even to women who 
could read, than it used to be to the most learned of the clergy, 
and those of the best understanding. And so the Gospel 
jewel, or evangelical pearl, is thrown about and trodden under 
foot of swine." Even in the third year of Henry V. (1415), 
it was enacted by a parliament held in Leicester, " that who- 
ever they were that should read the Scriptures in their mother 
tongue," (which was then called Wiclif s learning), "they 
should forfeit land, cattle, body, life, and goods, from their 
heirs forever, and be condemned for heretics to God, enemies 
to the crown, and most arrant traitors to the land." 



74 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

So much might be quoted which is appropriate to a con- 
sideration of John Wiclif from a literary standpoint that it 
is difficult to draw the line between his own apologies, de- 
fenses, etc., and the attacks, defences and criticisms pro and 
con, of those who have written about him. His own writ- 
ings on the All-sufficiency of the Scriptures are able and 
unique in their way. Not having room for all phases of his 
treatment at the hands of his contemporaries, we think our 
readers would prefer a sample of his much (dis) cussed trans- 
lation. So here is the first appearance in English, of the 
Sermon on the Mount. 



MATTHEW, CHAP. V. 

And Jhesus seynge the peple, went up into an hil; and 
whanne he was sett, his disciplis camen to him. And he 
openyde his mouthe, and taughte hem; and seide, Blessid 
be pore men in spirit; for the kyngdom of hevenes, is herun. 
Blessid ben mylde men; for thei schulen weelde the erthe. 
Blessid ben thei that mournen; for thei schal be coumfortid. 
Blessid ben thei that hungren and thirsten rightwisnesse : for 
thei schal be fulfilled. Blessid ben merciful men : for thei 
schul gete mercy. Blessed ben thei that ben of clene herte: 
for thei schulen se God. Blessid ben pesible men : for thei 
schulen be clepid goddis children. Blessid ben thei that suf- 
fren persecucioun for rightwisness ; for the kyngdom of 
hevenes is hern. Ye schul be blessid whanne men schul curse 
you, and schul pursue you : and schul seye al yvel agens you 
liyinge for me. Joie ye and be ye glade: for your meede is 
plenteous in hevenes: for so thei han pursued also prophetis 
that weren before you. Ye ben salt of the erthe, that if the 
salt vanishe awey wherynne schal it be salted? to nothing 
it is worth over, no but it be cast out and be defoulid of 
men. Ye ben light of the world, a citee set on a hill may not 
be hid. Ne men teendith not a lanterne and puttith it undir 
a bushel : but on a candlestik that it give light to alle that 
ben in the hous. So, schyne your light bifore men that thei 
see your gode workis, and glorifie your fadir that is in hev- 



GROWTH OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 75 

enes. Nyle ghe deme that I cam to undo the lawe or the 
prophetis, I cam not to undo the lawe but to fulfille. Forsothe 
I say to you till hevene and erthe passe, oon lettre, or oon 
title, schal not passe fro the lawe til alle thingis be don. 
Therefore he that brekith oon of these leeste maundementis, 
and techith thus men, schal be clepit the leest in the rewme 
of hevenes : but he that doth, and techith, schal be clepit greet 
in the kyngdom of hevenes. 

The reader has, of course, paralled every line of the 
above with the modern version so familiar to all, and noted 
the striking peculiarities of this most interesting specimen 
of literary antiquity. But the slightest reflection will also 
reveal the power of persistence on the part of the sentiment. 
It seems to matter not whether the sacred truths are clothed 
in the fashionable garments of modern linguistic weave, or 
dressed in the musty rags of ancient homespun, the sublime 
character of the divine teaching shines out with such brilli- 
ancy that the heart gets the full force of the message, no mat- 
ter how the head finds it attired. 

Contemporary with John Wiclif in England was John 
Barbour of Scotland. He was Archdeacon of Aberdeen, and 
but little is known of his personal history. He wrote a poem 
entitled " Bruce/' which is a metrical history of Robert the 
First, (1306- 1 329), and it has been quoted with high praise 
by the most distinguished Scotch historians and critics. It 
is an 

APOSTROPHE TO FREEDOM. 

" A ! f redome is a nobill thing ! 
Fredome mayse man to haiff liking ! 
Fredome all solace to man giffis : 
He levys at ese that f rely levys ! 
A noble hart may haiff nane ese, 
Na ellys nocht that may him plese, 
Gyffe fredome failythe : for fre liking 
Is yearnyt our all othir thing. 
Na he, that ay hase levyt fre, 
May nocht knaw weill the propyrte, 



y6 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

The angyr, na the wretchyt dome, 
That is cowplyt to foule thyrldome. 
But gyff he had assayit it, 
Then all perquer he suld it wyt; 
And suld think fredome mar to pryse 
Than all the gold in warld that is." 

Most of this can be understood without translation, but 
we give below a paraphrase of it, taken from Chambers 
Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotchmen. The para- 
phrase differs but slightly from the literal translation,— only 
refashions its garments. 

Ah! freedom is a noble thing, 
And can to life a relish bring; 
Freedom all solace to man gives; 
He lives at ease that freely lives. 
A noble heart may have no ease, 
Nor aught beside that may it please, 
If freedom fail — for 'tis the choice, 
More than the chosen, man enjoys. 
Ah, he that ne'er yet lived in thrall, 
Knows not the weary pains which gall 
The limbs, the soul, of him who plains 
In slavery's foul and festering chains. 
If these he knew, I ween right soon 
He would seek back the precious boon 
Of freedom, which he then would prize 
More than all wealth beneath the skies. 



And so, by the merest alteration of the literary a-la-mode, 
this old Scotch poem of the 14th century is transformed into 
a model appeal to the spirit of patriotism and humanity evi- 
denced in America's twentieth-century efforts to rid the world 
of bondage and oppression. All of which goes to show that in 
striving for the liberation of all classes that suffer thralldom 
of either soul or body, we are only working out the natural 
bent of mind inherited from such of our forefathers as suf- 
fered oppression, and cried out in their anguish for deliver- 
ance. We may be deemed supersensitive in our sympathies 
with other sufferers, but we came honestly by it. 



GROWTH OF ENGUSH LANGUAGE. J7 

GEOFFREY CHAUCER. 

That renowned poet 

Dan Chaucer, Well of English undenled, 

On Fame's eternall beadroll worthy to be fyled. 

— Spenser. 

Warton, with great beauty and justice has compared the 
appearance of Chaucer in our language to " a premature day 
in an English spring, after which the gloom of winter re- 
turns, and the buds and blossoms which have been called forth 
by a transient sunshine, are nipped by frosts and scattered 
by storms." Charles D. Cleveland said of him, " Accom- 
plished in manners and intimately acquainted with a splendid 
court, he was at once the philosopher who had surveyed man- 
kind in their widest sphere, the poet who haunted the solitudes 
of nature, and the elegant courtier whose opulent tastes are 
often discovered in the graceful pomp of his descriptions. 
The vigorous yet finished paintings with which his works 
abound, are still, notwithstanding the roughness of their cloth- 
ing, beauties of a highly poetical nature. The ear may not 
always, be satisfied, but the mind of the reader is always 
filled." Coleridge, in his " Table Talk " says " I take unceas- 
ing delight in Chaucer. His manly cheerfulness is especially 
delicious in my old age. How exquisitely tender he is." 

Chaucer's fame rests, on his Canterbury Tales; and the 
plan of the work was doubtless taken from the Decameron 
of Boccacio, an Italian writer. We leave the reader to peruse 
for himself the tales of the twenty-nine " sundry folk," met to- 
gether at the Tabard Inn, Southwark, on their way to Can- 
terbury. 

From this time on the English language is sufficiently 
developed to be read at the present day without the need of 
a commentary, and the literature that followed the invention 
of printing (about 1450) is so voluminous and the noted writ- 
ers are so numerous that we cannot discuss them in this arti- 
cle. We have traced the rise and progress of the " mother 



?8 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

tongue " from its antecedent dialects to comparatively modern 
times, showing the conditions that were operative upon the 
tribes which by their joint invasion of Britain laid the founda- 
tion for so grand a linguistic superstructure. That it has 
become the ablest representative of thought, no scholar will 
deny. In an article on Philology we may present somewhat 
in detail the architecture of the language, figuratively speak- 
ing, while, in some other chapter, the language of architec- 
ture will exhibit a literal application of its structural powers 
upon structural principles. There is hardly any relation of 
ideas, however complex, involving an idea within an idea, and 
these developed into a scheme within a scheme, ad libitum, 
that modern English is not competent to express perspicu- 
ously : and, with reasonable perspicacity on the part of the 
reader, the subtlest shades of meaning indicated by a masterly 
use of synonyms can be differentiated, and every concept 
weighed and its relations correctly noted, resulting in the 
clearest apprehension of all the parts combined into the in- 
tegral thought intended to be conveyed. In fact, the above 
sentence may be taken as a fair sample of language about 
language, involved to a considerable extent, and yet exhibit- 
ing its grammatical relations so clearly that it not only can be 
understood, but it cannot be misunderstood. 

In closing, we beg to emphasize the distinction between 
thought and language. A word is the sign of an idea. The 
idea, however, is not the word, but it is a mental concept, 
existing entirely independent of any expression; and when 
expressed, may be clothed plainly or gorgeously, durably or 
delicately, just as the speaker elects and within the limits of 
his vocabulary. To grasp more fully the thought that ideas 
are independent of words, suppose an Englishman adds a col- 
umn of figures. He cons over the words which to him represent 
those numerical ideas, and he reaches a result which to his 
mind is also represented by certain words. Now, let a 
Frenchman add the same column, and it is manifest that the 
same ideas pass through his mind, and the resulting idea is 
the same as that obtained by the Englishman. Neither one 
understands a word of the other's language, but their thoughts 



GROWTH OF ENGUSH LANGUAGE. 79 

are the same, in essence, although only cognizable to each in 
his own dictum. Ideas, then, are a universal Volapiik, and 
the principles of logic applying thereto are, like all other 
principles, eternal; so that reason, even in the minds of the 
inhabitants of " other worlds than ours," must be exercised 
in accordance with our own principles of thought. Thus, 
again, the conclusion is forced upon us that we are all children 
of the same Father, and created in His image. 



i*EST THOUGHTS ABOUT THE MIND, ACROSTICALI.Y ARRANGED. 

The wise man is never less alone than when he is alone. — Swift. 

He who cannot contract the sight of his mind as well as dilate it, 

wants a great talent in life. — Bacon. 
Every mind unemployed is a mind unenjoyed. — Bovee. 

Mind is the brightness of the body. — /. 5*. Knowles. 

It is the mind that maketh good or ill, that maketh wretch or happy, 

rich or poor. — Spenser. 
Narrow minds think nothing right that is above their own capacity. 

— Rochefoucauld. 
Don't despair of a student if he has one clear idea. — Emerson. 

If thou desirest ease, take care of the ease of thy mind. — Fuller. 
Searching into the human mind reveals strong traces of Him who 
made it. — Burke. 

There is nothinig so elastic as a human mind. — Tryon Edwards. 

He that has no resources of mind is more to be pitied than he who 

is in want for the necessaries for the body. — Colton. 
Even the mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of 

hell, a hell of heaven. — Milton. 

My mind to me a kingdom is; such present joys therein I find, that 

it excels all other bliss that earth affords. — Chaucer. 
Each mind ought sometimes to be diverted that it may return to 

better thinking. — Phoedrus. 
A narrow mind begets obstinacy; we do not easily believe what we 

cannot see. — Dryden. 
Strong minds can equally embrace great things and small.— Jonson. 
Unbend the mind, or it will be either weakened or broken. 

— Sir P. Sidney. 
Richest jewels soonest wear their settings; so minds too vigorous 

consume the body. — Goldsmith. 
Experience joined with common sense, to mortal minds a providence. 

— Green. 



80 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Our minds are like our stomachs, whetted by the change of food. — 

— Quintillian. 
Few need complain of the narrowness of their minds, if they will 
only do their best with them. — Hobbes. 



The mind grows narrow in proportion as the soul grows corrupt. 

— Rousseau. 
Half the mental difficulties men suffer arise from a morbid state of 

health. — Beecher. 
Experience shows that success is due less to mental ability than to 

zeal. — Buxton. 

Memory is the treasure house of the mind.— Fuller. 

A well cultivated mind is made up of all the minds of preceding ages. 

— Fontenelle. 
Neutral minds are the devil's allies. — Chapin. 



NAMES OF THE STATES. 

THEIR ORIGIN AND MEANING. 

AiaDama — Indian origin, means " Here We Rest." 

Arkansas — From French " arc " (a bow) and Indian " Kansas " 
(smoky waters), meaning "A Bow of Smoky Waters." 

California — From Spanish, meaning " Hot Furnace," named by 
Cortez in 1535. 

Colorado — Spanish for " red," referring to the reddish tint of the 
Colorado River. 

Connecticut — From Indian, meaning " Long River." 

Dakota — Indian for "allies." 

Delaware — Named in honor of Thomas West, " Lord De la War," 
who was the first to enter the bay in 1610. 

Florida — From Spanish, meaning " flowery," named by Ponce de 
Leon. 

Georgia — Named in honor of George II. of England. 

Illinios — From Indian, meaning "manly." 

Indiana — Named from the Indians. 

Iowa — Means " The Sleepy One." 

Kansas — From Indian words meaning " smoky water." 

Kentucky — From Indian, meaning " dark and bloody ground." 

Louisiana — Named after Louis XVI. of France. 

Maine — Originally called " Mayneland," to distinguish it from set- 
tlements on the coast islands. 

Maryland — Named in honor of Henrietta Maria. Queen of Charles 
I, of England. 

Massachusetts — Named from the Massachuttes tribe of Indians, 
meaning "blue hills." 



NAMES OF THE STATES. 8l 

Michigan— From Indian, meaning "The Lake Country." 
Minnesota— Named from Minnesota River, Indian for " sky-tinted 

water." 

Mississippi— From the river, Indian for "Father of Waters." 

Missouri— Named from the river, Indian for "muddy water." 

Montana — " Mountainous." 

Nebraska — From Indian, meaning "water valley." 

Nevada — From Spanish, meaning "white as snow." 

New Hampshire — So named by George Mason after Hampshire 

County, England, his home. 

New Jersey— Named in honor of Sir George Carteret, who had been 
Governor of the Island of Jersey in the British Channel. 

New York — In honor of the Duke of York, brother of Charles II., 
to whom the territory was granted in 1664. 

North and South Carolina — Named in honor of Charles (Carolus) 
II. 

Ohio — Indian for "beautiful river." 

Oregon — From Spanish "oregano," or "wild marjoram." 

Pennsylvania — Meaning " Penn's Woods," in honor of Admiral 
Penn, father of William Penn. 

Rhode Island — Some say it was named from Dutch " Roode Islandt" 
(Red Island), others from Isle of Rhodes in the Mediterranean; others 
say it is named " Road Island," because it was near the Roadstead ; 
others claim it was named after a prominent settler in Newport, named 
Rhodes. 

Tennessee — Indian for "the river of the big bend." 

Texas — Indian for "North Country." 

Vermont — From French "Vert Mont," meaning "green mountain." 

Virginia — Named by Raleigh in honor of Elizabeth, the Virgin 
Queen of England. 

Wisconsin — French, from an Indian word, said to mean " wild, rush- 
ing river," also, "flowing westward." 

Washington — After the first President. 



OUR RAILROADS. 

He stood in the station; she at his side 
(She is a fair, young, blushing bride), 
On their honeymoon they're starting now; 
It always follows the marriage vow. 
He looks at the flaring railroad maps, 
At the train of cars and his baggage traps. 
And whispers, " Pettie, how shall we go — 
By the Kankakee or the Kokomo? 



& 2 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

"These railroad maps confuse the eye; 

There's the C. B. Q. and the R. N. Y., 

And this one says your life's at stake 

On any road but the Sky Blue Lake. 

The N. E. R. L. P. Q. J. 

Have sleepers on the entire way; 

But I've heard these trains are much more slow 

Than the Kankakee or the Kokomo." 

She murmured, " Sweetie, I've heard pa say 
What a fine old road is the P. G. K.; 
But mamma seems to disagree 
And prefers the X. S. H. O. P. 
This chart says, baby, the views are fine 
On the Texas-Cowboy Mustang line; 
But still, perhaps, we'd better go 
On the Kankakee or the Kokomo." 

A conductor chanced to pass them by, 
And the bridegroom caught his gentle eye; 
He said, " Oh, man, with the cap of blue, 
Inform me quick, inform me true, 
Which road is best for a blushing, pure, 
Young, timid bride on her wedding tour ! 
And tell us quickly what you know 
Of the Kankakee and the Kokomo." 

The conductor's eye gave a savage gleam, 
These words rolled out in a limpid stream: 
"There's the A. B. J. D. V. R. Z. 
Connects with the Flip Flap Biff Bang B., 
You can change on the Leg-off- Sueville-Grand, 
And go through on the Pan-cake Ace Full Hand, 
That road you named is blocked by snow. 
(The Kankakee and the Kokomo.) 

" The Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh Through, 
Connects with the Oshkosh Kalamazoo, 
With a smoking car all the afternoon, 
Just the thing for a honeymoon: 
And the Central Scalp Booth Blungville-switch 
Goes through a vine-cla<j country rich, 
Of the road you named I nothing know, 
The Kankakee and the Kokomo." 

The bride said : " Baby, 'tis best, by far, 

Like the dollar, we return to pa, 

(That's a pun I heard while on a train 

On the U. R. N. G. Jersey main.") 

The conductor smiled; his eye teeth showed; 



CHINESE NAMES. 83 

He had spoiled the trade of a rival road. 
He knew in his heart there was no snow 
On the Kankakee or the Kokomo. 

And the bride and groom returned to pa, 

Who heard it all and then said " Pshaw ! 

If you found you couldn't go that way, 

Why didn't you go on the "Cross-eyed Bay?" 

The bridegroom gave a howl of pain; 

The railroad names had turned his brain. 

He raves, insane, forever more; 

In a mad house, chained unto the floor, 

He gibbers, " Tootsie, shall we go 

By the Kankakee or the Kokomo ? " 

— Dramatic Times. 



In this connection we submit two articles by Prof. Leon 
Londsberg, of the editorial staff of the New York Tribune. 

CHINESE NAMES. 
History tells us that Emperor Hwang-te (B. C. 2697) 
was the first to introduce sing or surnames. From the earli- 
est times the sing were conferred by the Emporor, and no 
Chinaman has, down to the present day, ever had a right 
either to adopt a sing or to change it without Imperial sanc- 
tion. These surnames are taken from their native places, 
countries or cities, or chosen on account of epithets attaching 
to them, or of their titles, trades or personal characteristics. 
In addition to the sing, every Chinaman possesses one or 
more personal names. In his infant days the father confers 
upon him the ju ming, or " milk name," and subsequently, on 
his arriving at maturity, the shu ming, or " school name," 
is given him. The shu ming generally consists of two charac- 
ters, selected with reference to the boy's condition, prospects, 
studies or some other event connected with him, such names 
as Ink Grinder, Promising Study, Opening Olive, Entering 
Virtue and the like. Girls have only their infant and marriage 
names ; the former may be a flower, a gem or such like ; the 
latter are terms like Emulating the Moon, Orchis Flower, Del- 
icate Perfume, etc. At Canton a mere number, as A Yet, A 



84 BEST THOUGHTS 0E BEST THINKERS. 

Sam, A Luk (No. i, No. 3, No. 6), often designates the boys 
till they get their " school names." 

When a man marries he adopts a third name, called 
" tsz" or " style," by which he is usually known through life. 
When a girl is married her family name becomes her given 
name, and the given name is disused, her husband's name be- 
coming her family name. Thus, Wa Salah married to Wei 
San Wei drops the Salah and is called Wei Wa Shi; i. e., 
Mrs. Wei (born of the clan) Wa. When a young man is at- 
taining a degree or enters an office he takes a title called Kwan 
Ming, or " official name," by which he is known to Govern- 
ment. Of the members or heads of licensed mercantile com- 
panies each has an official name, which is entered in their 
permit, whence it is called by foreigners their " chop names." 
Besides these various names, old men of fifty, shopkeepers 
and others, take a hao, or " designation." The names taken 
by shopkeepers allude to trade or its prospects, such as Mutual 
Advantage, Extensive Harmony, Rising Goodness, etc. Fin- 
ally, when a man dies he receives another and last name in the 
hall of ancestors. 

The personal names of the Chinese are written contrari- 
wise to our own, the surname coming first, then the given 
name and then the complimentary title, as Liang Wantai 
Siensang, where Liang, or " Millet," is the family name, 
Wantai, or " Terrace of Letters," the given name, and Sien- 
sang, Mr. (i. e., Master) or Teacher. 



THE OLDEST LITERATURE. 

Which country had the earliest written literature? Does not to 
India belong this honor? 



ANSWER BY LEON LONDSBERG. 

In the eighteenth century the unanimous answer to this 
question was " China." In the first three-quarters of our 
century, however, the Celestial Empire was stripped of this 
glory, and India was proclaimed the cradle of literature. Then 



THE ODDEST LITERATURE. 85 

came the Egyptologists, who, by real texts and not merely by 
hypothesis, as did the Sinologues and Indianists, showed that 
to Egypt belonged the honor of having had the earliest writ- 
ten literature. At the same time contemporary Indianists 
proved that the oldest Hindoo poems, dramas and novels 
known to us did not originate before the sixth or seventh cen- 
tury of our era; while the novels offered in many Egyptian 
papyri are at least thirty centuries old. We possess now, 
besides a good deal of Egyptian religious literature, twenty 
novels that have been disinterred within the last ten years, 
and learned Egyptologists are preparing the publication of 
some more stories. Most of the twenty novels, already pub- 
lished date from 2000 to 1000 B. C. (twelfth to eighteenth 
dynasties). The Egyptian novels are written in demotic 
characters, which, after the Thibetan, are the most difficult 
to decipher. The great Egyptologist, Maspero, had to work 
diligently five years to translate an Egyptian text which in any 
European language would hardly fill twenty pages. 



86 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



FORCE. 

Southey says, " It is with words as with sunbeams, — 
the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn." Taking 
our cue from this apt comparison, we find that one of the 
principle elements of force in language consists in the use 
of short words. While the words derived from Latin, or 
from French and other Latin languages, are usually the more 
polite, the Saxon words are the more forcible. 

The Latin is an inflected language, and hence it is that 
our words from that source are usually long and rhythmical. 
The prefixes and suffixes, each denoting the accretion of 
ideas thereto, make the resulting word a complex affair, the 
contemplation of which spreads each mental effort over dif- 
ferent lines of thought, and the attention rests on so many 
different points in the comprehension of that word, that no 
great impression is made at any point. The Saxon language 
being largely monosyllabic, each word focusses the whole at- 
tention for the moment on that one idea; and the impression 
made by such words is correspondingly deeper and more 
vivid; barring, of course, the connectives and other relation 
words that merely show grammatical dependence. Even 
when a sentence is composed largely of Greek and Latin de- 
rivatives, it is usually dependent upon the Saxon for its bolts, 
pins and hinges ; and so the strength of the joints is yet in- 
herent in the mother tongue. 

Early English was a still further condensation of Anglo- 
Saxon, as may be seen in such words as to love, bake, beat, 
slide, swim, bind, blow, brew, and others, which were dissylla- 
bles until reduced to English. We have continued this process 
from generation to generation, until now, in the mad rush 
for gold, the business world is likely to annihilate all trace 



FORCE. 87 

of the origin of many words, so mercilessly do we clip their 
wings and decapitate them. When an engine was made to 
pick seeds out of cotton we couldn't think of wasting time to 
call it a cotton-engine, and as engine would not be sufficiently 
definite, why, instead of adding some letter or syllable charac- 
teristic of use, we " take away even that which it seemeth to 
have," and call it a " gin." So van for carry van, bus for 
omnibus, wig for periwig, aid for aid-de-camp, prim for 
primitive, grog for grogram, tick for (pawnbroker's) ticket, 
pants for pantaloons, and so on to the end of the chapter. 

In other instances we drop a piece out of the middle, or 
whack a slice off almost anywhere, as in last for latest, lark 
for laverock, since for sithence, sent for sended, built for 
builded, chirp for chirrup or cheer up, fag for fatigue, and so 
on up till you come to* consols for consolidated-annuities-of 
the-bank-of-England, or concon for the union of two previ- 
ously consolidated companies. 

Now while it is true that most of the polish of a brilliant 
or flowing style of oratory must be derived from a choice 
selection of words both adapted and adopted from the Latin, 
it is also true that to reach the deepest feeling, as in express- 
ing pathos, describing sublimity, portraying passion, or in 
any phase of address calling for exceeding force of mean- 
ing, it is necessary to restrict the language largely to short 
words of Saxon origin. Witness the passage in Ezekiel, 
which Coleridge is said to have considered the sublimest in 
the whole Bible : " And he said unto me, son of man, can 
these bones live? and I answered, O, Lord God, thou know- 
est." David's lament over Saul and Jonathan is an instance 
of pathos not surpassed in the whole range of literature; and 
yet, nearly all the words are comprised within one or two 
syllables. When read in the impressive manner which the 
subject matter demands, the mind is awed, and the heart is 
thrilled with their force : " The beauty of Israel is slain upon 
the high places; how are the mighty fallen! They were 
swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions * * * 
how are the mighty fallen in the midst of battle ? " 



88 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Shakespeare's strongest word-pictures abound in masterly 
touches effected by short strokes, thus : 

*' Here lay Duncan, 
His silver skin laced with his golden blood; 
And his gashed stabs look'd like a breach in Nature 
For ruin's wasteful entrance. There the murderers, 
Steep'd in the colors of their trade, their daggers 
breech'd with gore." — Macbeth. 

To prove that short words are not passionless,, read 
" Thane of Cawdor." 

" That is a step 
On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, 
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires, 
Let not light see my black and deep desires. 
The eye winks at the hand. Yet, let that be 
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see." 

Milton knew well when to employ words of " learned 
length and thunderous sound" but was he tame, when in the 
brief words too oft ignored by lesser artists,, he described the 
journey of the fallen angels, thus : 

"Through many a dark and dreary vale 
They passed, and many a region dolorous, 
O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp, 
Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death, — 
A universe of death." 

And so when calling upon hell to receive its new pos- 
sessor : 

" One who brings 
A mind not to be changed by place or time. 
The mind is its own place, and in itself 
Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. 
What matter where, if I be still the same, 
And what I should be — all but less than he 
Whom thunder hath made greater? Here, at least, 
We shall be free; the Almighty hath not built 
Here for His envy; will not drive us hence; 
Here we may reign secure, and, in my choice, 
To reign is worth ambition, though in hell ; 
Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven." 



FORCE. 89 

Even the flowing style of the anapaestic verse is charged 
with force by the fire of genius, when a Byron portrays the 
destruction of Sennacherib: 

" For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast, 
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed; 
And the eyes of the sleepers wax'd deadly and chill, 
And their hearts beat but once, and] forever lay still." 

We often hear mention of Johnson's fondness for big- 
swelling words, the dictionary-mastodons; and so marked 
was, his influence upon literature that when any writer shows 
a decided preference for the leviathans of the lexicon, he is 
called " Johnsonese." Imagine " Pilgrim's Progress " writ- 
ten in such a style, and you note at once its lack of force. 

Dr. William Mathews, in an excellent work entitled 
" Words, Their Use and Abuse," says : " These Liliputians, 
— these Tom Thumbs of the dictionary, play as important a 
part in our literature as their bigger and more magniloquent 
brothers. Like the infusoria of our globe, so long unnoticed, 
which are now known to have raised whole continents from 
the depths of the ocean, these words, once so despised, are 
now rising in importance, and are admitted by scholars to 
form an independent class in the family of words. In some 
kinds of writing their almost exclusive use is. indispensable. 
WTiat would have been the fate of Bunyan's immortal book, 
if he had told the story of the Pilgrim's journey in the ponder- 
ous, elephantine " osities " and " ations " of Johnson, or the 
gorgeous Latinity of Taylor? It would have been like build- 
ing a boat out of timbers cut for a ship. It is owing to this 
grandiose style, as much as to any other cause, that the author 
of the " Rambler," in spite of his sturdy strength and grasp 
of mind, " lies like an Egyptian king, buried and forgotten 
in the pyramid of his fame." When we remember that the 
Saxon language, the soul of the English, is essentially 
monosyllabic; that our language contains, of monosyllables 
formed with the vowel a alone, more than five hundred, — by 
the vowel e, some four hundred and fifty; by the vowel i, 
about four hundred; by the vowel 0, over four hundred; 



9° BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

and by the vowel u, more than two hundred and fifty; we 
must admit that these seemingly petty and insignificant 
words, even the microscopic particles, so far from meriting 
to be treated as " creepers," are of high importance, and that 
to know when and how to use them is of no less moment to 
the speaker or writer than to know when to use the grand- 
iloquent expressions which we have borrowed from the lan- 
guage of Greece and Rome." 

To close, we submit a strong presentation of the claims 
of short words, in the shape of a poem by Dr. Addison Alex- 
ander, itself a shining example of the cause for which he 
pleads : 

"Think not that strength lies in the big round word, 

Or that the brief and plain must needs be weak, 
To whom can this be true who once has heard 

The cry for help, the tongue that all men speak, 
When want or woe or fear is in the throat, 

So that each word gasped out is like a shriek 
Pressed from the sore heart, or a strange wild note 

Sung by some fay or fiend. There is strength 
Which dies if stretched too far or spun too fine, 

Which has more height than breadth, more depth than length. 
Let but this force of thought and speech be mine, 

And he that will may take the sleek, fat phrase, 
Which glows and burns not, though it gleam and shine,— 

Light, but no heat — a flash, but not a blaze! 
Nor is it mere strength that the short word boasts; 

It serves of more than fight or storm to tell, 
The roar of waves that clash on rock-bound coasts, 

The crash of tall trees when the wild winds swell, 
The roar of guns, the groans of men that die 

On blood-stained fields. It has a voice as well 
For them that far off on their sick-beds lie; 

For them that weep, for them that mourn the dead; 
For them that laugh, and dance, and clap the hand; 

To joy's quick step, as well as grief's slow tread, 
The sweet, plain words we learned at first keep time, 

And, though the theme be sad, or gay, or grand, 
With each, with all, these may be made to chime, 

In thought, or speech, or song, in prose or rhyme." 

Force in writing will be treated in subsequent articles 
as viewed from other stand-points. Thus much as to its de- 
pendence upon short words,. 



LACONICS. 91 



LACONICS. 

BEST THOUGHTS AMPLIFIED. 

Everything is not always good, but all good things are great. 

— Demosthenes. 

I will not go so far as to say, with a living poet, that the 
world knows nothing of its greatest men; but there are forms 
of greatness, or at least of excellence, which " die and make 
no sign ; " there are martyrs that miss the palm, but not the 
stake; heroes without the laurel, and conquerors without the 
triumph. — G. A. Sala. 

If wrecks and ruins and desolation of kingdoms are marks 
of greatness, why do we not worship a tempest, and erect a 
statue to the plague? A panegyric upon an earthquake is 
every jot as reasonable as upon such conquests as these. 

— Collier. 



No grief is so acute but time ameliorates it. — Cicero. 

As a fresh wound shrinks from the hand of the surgeon, 
then gradually submits and even calls for it; so a mind under 
the first impression of a misfortune shuns and rejects all com- 
forts, but at length, if touched with tenderness, calmly and 
willingly resigns itself. — Pliny the Younger. 



The present moment is a powerful deity. — Goethe. 

Make use of time, if thou lovest eternity: know, yesterday 
cannot be recalled, to-morrow cannot be assured; to-day is 
only thine, which if thou procrastinate, thou losest, which lost, is 
lost forever: one to-day is worth two to-morrows. — Quarles. 

One of the illusions is that the present hour is not the 
critical, decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day 
is the best day in the year. No man has learned anything 
rightly, until he learns that every day is Doomsday.— Emerson. 



92 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Taxes are the sinews of the state. — Cicero. 

The taxes are indeed very heavy, and if those laid by the 
government were the only ones we had to pay, we might more 
easily discharge them; but we have many others, and much 
more grievous to some of us. We are taxedl twice as much 
by our idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four 
times as much by our folly; and from these taxes the com- 
missioners cannot ease or deliver us by allowing an abatement. 

— Franklin. 

As the general rule in constitutional states, liberty is a 
compensation for the heaviness of taxation, and in despotic states 
the equivalent for liberty is the lightness of taxation. 

— Montesquieu. 



Kings ought to shear, not skin their sheep. — Herrick. 

Taxing is an easy business. — Any projector can contrive new 
impositions; any bungler can add to the old; but is it alto- 
gether wise to have no other bounds to your impositions than 
the patience of those who are to bear them? — Burke. 

Taxation without representation is injustice and oppression. 
It brought on the American Revolution, and gave birth to a 
free and mighty nation. — 



Millions for defense; not a cent for tribute. — C. C. Pinckney. 

The repose of nations cannot be secure without arms, ar- 
mies cannot be maintained without pay, nor can the pay be pro- 
duced except by taxes. — Tacitus. 

What a benefit would the government render to itself and 
to every city, village, and hamlet in the States, if it would tax 
whisky and rum almost to the point of prohibition! Was it 
Bonaparte who said that he found vices very good patriots? 
"He got five millions from the love of brandy, and he should 
be glad to know which of the virtues would pay him as much." 
Tobacco and opium have broad backs, and will cheerfully carry 
the load of armies, if you choose to make them pay high for 
such joy as they give, and such harm as they do. — Emerson. 



Quackery has no such friend as credulity. — C. Simmons. 

Nothing more strikingly betrays the credulity of mankind 
than medicine. Quackery is a thing universal, and universally 



LACONICS. 93 

successful. In this case it is literally true that no imposition 
is too great for the credulity of men. — Thoreau. 

Said a clever quack to an educated physician, " How many 
of the passing multitude, do you suppose, appreciate the value 
of science, or understand the impositions of quackery?" — "Not 
more than one in ten," was the answer. — " Well, said the quack, 
"you may have the one, and I'll have the nine." 

Pettifoggers in law and quacks in medicine have held from 
time immemorial the fee simple of a vast estate, subject to no 
alienation, diminution, revolution, nor tax — the folly and 
ignorance of mankind. — Colton. 



Man delights not me, nor woman either. — Shakespeare. 

Out of the ashes of misanthropy benevolence rises again; 
we find many virtues where we had imagined all was vice, many 
actions of disinterested friendship where we had fancied all 
was calculation and. fraud, — and so gradually, from the two 
extremes, we pass to the proper medium; and feeling that no 
human being is wholly good or wholly base, we learn that true 
knowledge of mankind which induces us to expect little and 
forgive much. The world cures alike the optimist and the mis- 
anthrope. — Bulwer. 

The misanthrope is the man who avoids society, only to 
free himself from the trouble of being useful to it; who con- 
siders his neighbors only on the side of their defects, not know- 
ing the art of combining their virtues and their vices, and of 
rendering the imperfections of the other people tolerable by re- 
flecting on his own. — He is more employed in finding out and 
publishing the guilty, than in devising means to reform them; 
and because he thinks his talents are not sufficiently valued and 
employed by his fellow citizens, or rather because they know 
his foibles and do not choose to be subject to his caprices, he 
talks of quitting cities, towns, and societies, and living in dens 
or deserts. — Saurin. 



The proper study of mankind is man. — Pope. 

Omit a few of the most abstruse sciences, and- mankind's 
study of man occupies nearly the whole field of literature. The 
burden of history is what man has been; of law, what he 
does; of physiology, what he is; of ethics, what he ought to 
be; of revelation, what he shall be. — George Finlayson. 



94 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Every man is a volume, if you know how to read him. — Charming. 

Now the basest thought possible concerning man is, that 
he has no spiritual nature; and the foolishest misunderstand- 
ing of him possible is, that he has, or should have, no animal 
nature. For his nature is nobly animal, nobly spiritual, — 
coherently and irrevocably so: neither part of it may, but at 
its peril, expel, despise, or defy the other. — Ruskin. 

It is not by books alone, nor chiefly, that one becomes in 
all points a man. Study to do faithfully every duty that 
comes in your way. Stand to your post ; silently devour the 
chagrins of life; love justice; control self; swerve not from 
truth or right; be a man of rectitude, decision, conscien- 
tiousness: one that fears and obeys God, and exercises benevo- 
lence to all ; and in all this you shall possess true manliness. — Anon. 



A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others. — Marcus 
Aurelius. 

An acorn is not an oak when it is sprouted. — It must go 
through long summers and fierce winters, and endure all that 
frost, and snow, and thunder, and storms, and side-striking winds 
can bring, before it is a full grown oak. — So a man is not a man 
when he is created; he is only begun. — His manhood must come 
with years. — He that goes through life prosperous, and comes to 
his grave without a wrinkle, is not half a man. — Difficulties are 
God's errands and trainers, and only through them can one come 
to the fulness of manhood. — H. W. Beecher. 



Half dust, half deity, alike unfit to sink or soar. — Byron. 

How poor, how rich, how abject, how august, how wonder- 
ful, how complicate is man ! distinguished link in being's end- 
less chain ! midway from nothing to the Deity ! dim miniature 
of greatness absolute ! an heir of glory ! a frail child of dust ! 
helpless immortal ! insect infinite ! a worm ! a God ! — Young. 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS. 95 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS. 

FROM " WHO'S WHO IN AMERICA." 

" Following a suggestion which seemed to contain within 
it much of value, an effort has been made to ascertain the 
educational advantages enjoyed by the people mentioned in 
this volume, as far as such statistics could be collated from the 
various autobiographical statements. In all there are 8602 
people embraced in the compilation. The educational in- 
quiry has necessarily been kept down to certain defined limits, 
and only partial discrimination could be made. Thus it will 
be found that of the total, 3970 are disclosed as educated in 
colleges and universities. Some of these have attended sev- 
eral colleges, but each name could only be counted once as 
to general education, and no account has been kept as to 
post-graduate degrees or courses. Of the Collegians, about 
80 per cent, took baccalaureate degrees. This, of course, 
includes graduates of the smaller colleges as well as of the 
great universities. 

The figures of those below collegiate grades indicate, in 
each case, the highest class of institutions attended' by the 
number of persons enumerated. 

Trie graduates m technical and professional schools are 
in some cases also enumerated in statistics of general educa- 
tion, while in other cases, physicians, clergymen, lawyers, 
etc., have given the details of their professional preparation, 
but have omitted all other reference to their educational career, 

Those enumerated as having furnished no scholastic de- 
tails are not covered by any of the other items, the absence 
of information in these cases including both general and 
special education. The figures ascertained are as follows : 



96 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

3237 graduates of universities and colleges conferring 
baccalaureate degrees in letters, science or 
philosophy. 
733 others, attended like institutions, but were not 

graduated. 
693 closed their scholastic career in academies, semi- 
naries and other institutions of secondary 
grade. 
79 finished in normal schools. 
171 have a high-school education. 
640 have merely common or public school education. 
185 were privately educated. 
20 are self-taught. 
298 were educated in foreign institutions. 
1307 furnish no educational data. 
553 graduated in medicine. 
265 graduated from technical schools as engineers, 

architects, chemists, agriculturists, etc. 
378 are theological graduates. 
336 graduated from law schools. 
109 graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy. 

9 naval officers were not graduated as such. 
162 graduated from the U. S. Military Academy. 
35 military officers were not graduated as such. 
29 artists received their education at the National 
Academy of Design. 

As to the last item it may be stated that it was found 
impracticable to designate in a general way the various de- 
grees of artistic preparation either in painting, sculpture, 
music, the drama, etc., because these arts have in a large 
measure been learned from individual instructors. 

After presenting the figures, their significance must be 
largely left to individual deduction. Yet some features are 
especially prominent. Assuming that the names from which 
these figures are compiled represent a fair selection from the 
best known men and women of the country, they speak most 
convincingly of the value of education as, a factor in success. 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS. 97 

The 1307 who furnished no educational data include a large 
number of persons whose present occupations or avocations 
indicate that they, too, must have received the benefits of 
higher education, and if they had all supplied scholastic sta- 
tistics the relative number in each grade would probably have 
undergone no material change. For purposes of comparison 
these and the 298 educated abroad may be eliminated, and 
only the first eight items and the naval and military graduates 
be considered, making a total of 6029 out of a grand total 
of 8602 in the entire list of names. 

Of this 6029, only 205 (20 self-taught and 185 privately 
educated) did not attend schools; and only 640 of the others 
stopped with the instruction they received in the public 
schools. This is no argument against the common schools 
of the country, however, because nearly all who are in the 
higher classifications began their education in public schools 
and from them passed into the academic and collegiate insti- 
tutions. The strong fact is that so large a proportion of the 
whole have had the benefit of the higher education. 

In regard to professional education it will be seen that 
there are only 336 graduates from law schools, although 
there are 860 practising lawyers represented in the book ; and 
of the 847 clergymen in active pastorates and hundreds in 
other associations, only 374 are graduates of theological 
seminaries, showing that the special preparation in these pro- 
fessions has been largely caried on under private tuition." 

Much more might be derived from a further study of 
these figures, but we leave it open for each individual thinker 
to follow out in his own way. A lengthy tabular representa- 
tion is also given of birth and residence statistics showing in 
one column how many of these prominent people were born 
in each state and territory, including also 67 foreign countries, 
and in another column how many of these people now reside 
in each state, territory or country. We omit the table, but 
quote from the author's analysis of birth and residence sta- 
tistics the following : 



98 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

" The value of the compilation lies, of course, in the 
character and classification of the people enumerated, com- 
prising a carefully selected list of those who are best known 
as representatives of the better and higher interests and ac- 
tivities of the United States. The table is useful as indicating 
where people of this kind come from, and where their activi- 
ties center. Summarizing, it appears that of the 8602 peo- 
ple, 7320 are natives, 974 foreign born, and 308 furnish no 
data as to birth place. As to present location, 8345 are in 
the United States, 243 abroad, and 14 are not located." 
(Those abroad do not include army officers.) 

" Of the American States and Territories, only Alaska, 
Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and 
Wyoming fail to contribute to the birth list; but all are 
represented in the column showing present location. Of the 
67 foreign countries (including the German Empire as only 
one), 61 are contributors to the birth column, and 34 to 
present residence list." 

We select from the table the ten most important ones 
as to birth: 

Birthplace. Present Location. 



New York, 


1642 


2039 


Massachusetts 


828 


742 


Pennsylvania, 


738 


622 


Ohio, 


57o 


321 


Maine 


278 


91 


Connecticut, 


276 


193 


Illinois, 


264 


564 


Virginia, 


235 


102 


England, 


210 


89 


Vermont, 


200 


42 



Commenting further the author says: "The gain in 
New York from the first to second column is unquestionably 
due to a concentration of leading workers and thinkers in 
literary, artistic, commercial and other lines, in New York 



LACONICS. 99 

City. The Illinois figures, which show more than twice as 
many in the second column as are in the first column, speak 
very pertinently for the growth of Chicago as a center of 
attraction for people of " Who's Who " characteristics." 

(For a far more elaborate analysis of college statistics, 
the reader is referred to " Within College Walls " by Chas. 
F. Thwing, Pres. Western Reserve University.) 



THOUGHT POTPOURRI. 

Thought is deeper than all speech; 

Feeling deeper than all thought; 
Souls to souls can never teach 

What unto themselves was taught. 
— C. P. Cranch. 

My Country 'tis of thee, 
Sweet land of liberty, — 

Of thee I sing: 
Land where my fathers died, 
Land of the pilgrim's pride, 
From every mountain side 

Let freedom ring. 

Samuel F. Smith. 

We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; 

In feelings, not in figures on a dial. 

We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives 

Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. — Phillip J. Bailey. 

England may as well dam up the waters of the Nile with bulrushes 
as to fetter the step of Freedom, more proud and firm, in this youthful 
land, than where she treads the sequestered glens of Scotland, or couches 
herself among the mountains of Switzerland. 

— Lydia Maria Child. 

A sacred burden is this life ye bear, 

Look on it, lift it, bear it solemnly, 

Stand up and walk beneath it steadfastly. 

Fail not for sorrow, falter not for sin, 

But onward, upward, till the goal ye win. — Prances Anne Kemble. 

For of all sad words of tongue or pen, 

The saddest are these : " It might have been ! " 

— John Greenleaf Whittier. 

I n tr. 



100 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

The hand that rounded Peter's dome, 

And groined the aisles of Christian Rome, 

Wrought in a sad sincerity ; 

Himself from God he could not free ; 

He builded better than he knew ; — 

The conscious stones to beauty grew. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, 

Art is long, and Time is fleeting, 

And our hearts, though stout and brave, 
Still, like muffled drums, are beating, 

Funeral marches to the grave. — Henry W. Longfellow. 

Measure your mind's height by the shade it casts. 

— Robert Browning. 

That men may rise on stepping-stones 

Of their dead selves t© higher things. — Alfred Tennyson. 

Yes, child of suffering, thou mayest well be sure, 
He who ordained the Sabbath loves the poor ! 

— Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

Be noble ! and the nobleness that lies 

In other men, sleeping, but never dead, 

Will rise in majesty to meet thine own. — James Russell Lowell. 

In Winter when the dismal rain 

Came down in slanting lines, 
And Wind, that grand old harper, smote 

His thunder-harp of pines. — Alexander Smith. 

A song to the oak, the brave old oak, 

Who hath ruled in the greenwood long. — H. F. Croley. 

But whether on the scaffold high 

Or in the battle's van, 
The fittest place where man can die 

Is where he dies for man ! — Michael J. Barry. 

Two souls with but a single thought, 
Two hearts that beat as one. — Maria Lovell. 

I love it — I love it, and who shall dare 

To chide me for loving that old arm-chair! — Eliza Cook. 

A babe in the house is a well-spring of pleasure. 

— Martin F. Tupper. 

Nearer, my God, to Thee, 

Nearer to Thee ! 
E'en though it be a cross 

That raiseth me; 
Still all my song shall be, 
Nearer, my God, to Thee, 

Nearer to Thee ! — Sarah Flower Adams. 



LACONICS. IOI 

I am very lonely now, Mary, 

For the poor make no new friends; 
But O, they love the better still ; 

The few our Father sends. — Lady Dufferin. 

Two hands upon the breast, 

And labour 's done : 
Two pale feet crossed in rest, 

The race is won. — Dinah M. Muloch. 

No greater grief than to remember days 

Of joy when misery is at hand. — Dante Alighieri. 

As when, O lady mine, 

With chisell'd touch 

The stone unhewn and cold 

Becomes a living mould, 

The more the marble wastes 

The more the statue grows. — Michael Angelo. 

Life is short and the art long. — Hippocrates. 

Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding 

small ; 
Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds 

He all. — Fredrich Von Logau. 

Count that day lost whose low descending sun 

Views from thy hand no worthy action done. — Staniford. 

And Satan trembles when he sees 

The weakest saint upon his knees. — Cowper. 

Taught by that power that pities me, 
I learn to pity them. — Goldsmith. 

'Tis education forms the common mind : 

Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined. — Pope. 

There buds the promise of celestial worth. — Young. 

I have a soul that, like an ample shield, 

Can take in all, and verge enough for more. — Dryden. 

For all a rhetorician's rules 

Teach nothing but to name his tools. — Butler. 

Or, if Virtue feeble were, 

Heaven itself would stoop to her. — Milton. 

Morality is but the vestibule of religion. — Chapin. 

The morality of some people is in remnants, — never enough to 
make a coat.— ■/ oubert. 



102 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Soft moonlight and tender love harmonize together wonderfully. 

— Ninon de I'Bnclos. 

The cold, chaste moon, the queen of heaven's bright aisles. 

— Shelley. 

If money goes before, all ways do lie open. — Shakespeare. 

Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul. — Thoreau. 

Let them obey who know how to rule. — Shakespeare. 

All men would be master of others, and no man is lord of himself. 

— Goethe. 

Hypocrisy is the necessary burden of villainy. — Johnson. 

If Satan ever laughs, it must be at hypocrites; they are the 
greatest dupes he has. — Colton. 

Humility is the solid foundation of all the virtues. — Confucius. 

Humbleness is always grace, always dignity. — Lowell. 

Humility is the first of the virtues — for other people. — Holmes. 

Fidelity is the sister of justice. — Horace. 

Trust reposed in noble natures obliges them the more. — Dryden. 

A flatterer is the shadow of a fool. — Sir Thomas Overbury. 

Of all wild beasts, preserve me from a tyrant; and of all tame — 
a flatterer. — Ben. Jonson. 



ARCHITECTURE OF EXPRESSION. IO3 



THE ARCHITECTURE OF EXPRESSION. 

When a mechanic builds a gate, he puts in a brace ex- 
tending from the lower corner next the hinge, to the opposite 
upper corner, and the purpose of that brace is to prevent the 
gate from sagging downwards. What would you think of 
a mechanic who put that brace in from the upper hinge to the 
lower corner opposite, as if to keep the gate from sagging up- 
ward ? Well, that is the way many people build their sentences. 
They brace up the subject and predicate with pronouns, ad- 
verbial clauses, and all sorts of thought material, thrown into 
the structure in such a way as to indicate that the proposition 
was likely to sag in almost any direction, except where the 
gravitating force of the argument should incline it to rest. 

Now, there are well established principles on which to 
construct our thought-houses, and any violation of these prin- 
ciples betrays the artisan, and brands him as an idea-tinker, 
or sort of thought-cobbler, incapable of doing creditable work 
in the temple of the mind. 

Many good authors occasionally get a stick of verbal 
timber in wrong way around, and in quoting some of these 
as examples, it is not intended to expose that author's ignor- 
ance of expressional architecture, but rather his inattention, 
amounting, at least, to a mild degree of carelessness. The 
ornamental features of composition admit of more variation, 
according to taste; still, much that is good might be a little 
better. A moulding may look well wrong side up, but it 
looks still better right side up. Mistakes, like sins, are not all 
equally heinous. 

It is our purpose to give, under the above caption, numer- 
ous illustrations of the structural principles involved in express- 
ing the best thoughts of the best thinkers, stipulating in ad- 
vance, that to be classed as best thinkers, they must think clear- 



104 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Iy, after which, with clue regard to these principles, they ex- 
press themselves clearly to others. To insure that the reader 
may also be clear-headed in his interpretation of thought, we 
present, first, the leading causes of ambiguity, the avoidance 
of which will secure 

CLEARNESS. 
In general, it may be sufficient to define Clearness, as 
such an arrangement of words that the meaning cannot be 
mistaken. By reference to our Symposium, No. 56, it will 
be seen that there are several classes of words and clauses 
likely to become disarranged, and thus introduce a want of 
clearness. Quintillian says, " Care should be taken, not that 
the hearer may understand, but that he must understand, 
whether he will or not." 

When we see a landscape through an imperfect window- 
pane, the view is distorted, and our attention is called more 
to the glass than to the landscape. If the glass is perfect, 
we see the landscape so clearly that we do not notice the 
glass. So, if our words are well chosen and properly built 
together, we shall see the meaning (the thought) so clearly 
that we take no* notice of the words through which it is dis- 
cerned. The most eloquent language calls no attention to 
itself. The sentiment conveyed takes instantaneous pos- 
session of the hearer's mind, as if received by instinct. He 
understands it so thoroughly that he feels as if he had always 
known it. The highest compliment you can pay a speaker is, 
that you know exactly what he meant, but you did not notice 
how he said it. In that case, he must have said it just right. 

Of the many ways of securing clearness, we will first call 
attention to the use of pronouns. 59 Here is a sentence from 
Tillotson : — " Men look with an evil eye upon the good that 
is in others; and think that their reputation obscures them 
and their commendable qualities stand in their light; and 
therefore they do what they can to cast a cloud over them, 
that the bright shining of their virtues may not obscure 
them." 



ARCHITECTURE OF EXPRESSION. IO5 

In the above sentence, the last word " them " may refer 
to four different nouns for its antecedent. It may mean 
" men," " other," " qualities " or " virtues." And so the 
other pronouns, " their " and " they " are rendered ambigu- 
ous, l by reason of the general jumble of thought-timber. 
To show its faults more clearly, let us introduce a " ? " at 
each doubtful place, and the sentence looks like this : " Men 
look with an evil eye upon the good that is in others; and 
think that their (others, or men?) reputation obscures them 
(?), and their (?) commendable qualities stand in their ( ?) 
light; and therefore they (?) do what they (?) can to cast 
a cloud over them (?) that the bright shining of their (?) 
virtue may not obscure them (?)." 

Usually, the best way to correct the errors that arise 
from the wrong use of two or more pronouns is to make one 
of the nouns they represent singular and the other plural. 
The singular pronouns will then, of course, all refer to the 
singular noun, and the plural pronouns to the plural noun. 
Reconstructing this sentence in that way, we make it per- 
fectly clear, thus : 

" Men look with evil eye upon the good that is in 
another', and think that his reputation obscures them, his 
commendable qualities stand in their light; and therefore 
they do what they can to cast a cloud over him, that the 
bright shining of Ms virtues may not obscure them." 

Now, not all cases are so difficult as the above, and we 
shall cite many short sentences where the reader will see 
at a glance how the error could have been avoided, and the 
meaning rendered clear. Next, however, take this story told 
by Burton, of Billy Williams, a comic actor, relating his ex- 
perience in riding a horse belonging to Hamblin, the man- 
ager: 

" So I goes to the stable with Tom Flynn, and told the 
man to put the saddle on him." 

"On Tom Flynn?" 

" No, on the horse. So after talking with Tom Flynn 
awhile, I mounted him." 



106 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

" What ! mounted Tom Flynn ? " 

"No! the horse; and then I shook hands with him and 
rode off." 

" Shook hands with the horse, Billy ? " 

" No*, with Tom Flynn ; and then I rode off up the 
Bowery, and who should I meet in front of the Bowery 
Theater but Tom Hamblin; so I got off and told the boy 
to hold him by the head." 

" What ! hold Hamblin by the head? " 

" No, the horse ; and then we went in and had a drink 
together." 

"What! you and the horse?" 

"No! me and Hamblin; and after that I mounted 
him again, and went out of town." 

"What! mounted Hamblin again?" 

" No, the horse ; and when I got to Burnham, who 
should be there but Tom Flynn, — he'd taken another horse 
and rode out ahead of me; so I told the hostler to tie him 
up." 

"Tie Tom Flynn up?" 

" No-, the horse; and we had a drink there." 

" What, you and the horse? " 

" No, me and Tom Flynn ! " 

Finding his auditors by this time in a horse laugh, Billy 
wound up with — 

" Now, look here, — every time I say horse, you say 
Hamblin, and every time I say Hamblin, you say horse. I'll 
be hanged if I tell you any more about it." 

Another mode of correcting the wrong use of pronouns 
is by quoting some part of the sentence. Take this example : 

" Mrs. Jones said to her daughter that perhaps she might 
go to the city for the zephyr she needed to finish the cushion 
for her sister's Christmas present." 



ARCHITECTURE OF EXPRESSION. 107 

By using a quotation, it is rendered perfectly clear, thus : 

Mrs. Jones said to her daughter, " Perhaps, I may go to 
the city for the zephyr you need to finish the cushion for your 
sister's Christmas present." Or, Mrs. Jones said to her 
daughter, " Perhaps, you may go to the city for the zephyr I 
need to finish the cushion for my sister's Christmas present." 
Then x again, it might be, " Perhaps I may go to the city for 
the zephyr I need to finish the cushion for your sister's 
Christmas present," and so on till we have exhausted all the 
changes that can be rung on the pronouns within the quota- 
tion; all of those meanings being possible to the sentence as 
first cited, but each of them perfectly clear as reconstructed. 

Take this sentence: The farmer went to his neighbor 
and told him that his cattle were in his fields. This might 
mean, Your cattle are in my fields, or my cattle are in your 
fields, or my cattle are in my fields, or your cattle are in your 
fields; but by quoting the part that the farmer is supposed 
to have said to his neighbor, any one of these meanings can be 
indicated clearly. 

Sometimes it is better to repeat the noun itself. For in- 
stance : 

The captain of the ship swam ashore, and so did the 
cook. She was insured for fifteen thousand dollars, and was, 
heavily loaded with iron. 

The relative pronoun needs special care, as seen by such 
examples as the following: 

A child was run over and injured on the central viaduct 
by a heavy-loaded wagon wearing copper-toed shoes and a 
pink sash, which never spoke afterwards. Another: He 
needs no spectacles, that cannot see; nor boots, that cannot 
walk. To rent, a house containing ten rooms, to small family 
newly papered and located in a pleasant village, which has 
a fine bay window in front. Mr. Jenkins needs a surgeon, 
who has broken his. leg 1 . 



108 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Mary asked her mother if she would bring" her work- 
basket along, as she wished to make something for her 
mother. 

" We nowhere meet with a more glorious and pleasing 
show in nature, than what appears at the rising and setting 
of the sun, which (sun, rising and setting, or show?) is 
wholly made up of those different stains of light, that show 
themselves in clouds of different situation." — Addison. 

To correct this, say, " than that which appears at the 
rising and setting of the sun, and which — 

" His servant being ill, he had consented to allow his 
brother, a timid youth from the country, to take his place for a 
short time, and for that short time, he was a constant source 
of annoyance." — Life of C. J. Matthews. 

" They (those historians) who have talents want in- 
dustry or virtue; they (those) who have industry want 
talents." — Southey. 

" Lisias promised to his father never to abandon his 
friends." — Quoted by Campbell. 

The war then exciting attention to the American Colo- 
nies as one of the chief points in dispute, they came out in 
two volumes octavo." — Prior, in Life of Burke. 

" The correspondence alone which I have to conduct is 
at once extensive and demanding thoughtful attention, but 
I never have, nor ever will, allow literary work to interfere 
with pastoral." Upon this quotation Mr. Moon comments 
as follows : " You never have allow that, doctor, the magis- 
trate means, Mr. Editor, and he hopes, too, that you never 
will allowed it, never no more.' Literary work, indeed ! " 

" Harry eyed her with such a rapture as the first lover is 
described as having by Milton." — Thackeray. 

(Which probably means, "as the first lover is described 
by Milton as having eyed his mistress with.") 



ARCHITECTURE OF EXPRESSION. IO9 

Bain says that " the clearness of composition depends 
more upon the use of he, she, it, and they, than upon any other 
single matter coming within the scope of grammar." 

Cobbett says, " The word it is the greatest troubler that 
I know of in the language. It is so small, and so convenient, 
that few are careful enough in using it. Whenever they are 
at a loss for either a nominative or an adjective to their sen- 
tence, they, without any ceremony, clap in an it" 

The same author, in another place says, " When a man 
gets to his its, I tremble for him." 

Dean Alford, in his " Plea for the Queen's English," has 
this sentence : " While treating of the pronunciation of those 
who minister in public, two other words occur to me which 
are very commonly mangled by our clergy. One of these 1 
is covetous, and its substantive covetousness. I hope some 
who read these lines will be induced to leave off pronouncing 
them 2 covetious and covetiousness. I can assure them 3 that 
when they* do thus call them, 5 one at least of their 6 hearers has 
his appreciation of their 1 teaching disturbed." 

Commenting on the above sentence, Moon says, " I fancy 
that many a one who reads these lines will have his apprecia- 
tion of your teaching disturbed, as far as it relates to the 
Queen's English. But now for the changes which may be 
rung on these bells, as I have called them. The first of them 
(1) may apply either to words or to our clergy. One of 
these is covetous. I am sorry to say that the general belief 
is that there are more than ane; but perhaps you know one 
in particular. However my remarks interrupt the bell-ring- 
ing, and we want to count the changes, so I will say no more, 
but will at once demonstrate that we can ring 10,240 changes 
on your peal of bells! In other words, that your paragraph 
of less than ten lines, is. so ambiguously worded that, without 
any alteration of its grammar or syntax, it may be read in 
10,240 different ways! and only one of all that number 
shall be the right way to express your meaning. 



no 



BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



THE 


NOUNS TO WHICH THEY MAY 


NO OF 


NO. OF DIFFERENT 


PRONOUNS. 


APPEY. 


NOUNS. 


READINGS. 


i these 


words, or clergy 


2 


2 


2 them 


words, clergy, readers, lines 


4 


these 4 X by above 2= 8 


3 them 


words, clergy, readers, lines 


4 


these 4 X by above 8 =32 


4 they 


words, clergy, readers, lines 


4 


these 4 X 32 = 128 


5 them 


words, clergy, readers, lines 


4 


these 4X128= 512 


6 their 


words, clergy, readers, lines 


4 


these 4X512= 2048 


7 their 


words, clergy, readers, lines 


5 


these 5 X 2048 = 10240 




or hearers 







The foregoing examples are probably sufficient to con- 
vince the reader that carelessness in the use of pronouns is 
liable to create misunderstanding. There are many other 
ways in which even celebrated authors sometimes fail to make 
their meaning clear; and we shall continue these inquiries 
into the Architecture of Expression, elucidating principles, 
and citing examples where an author has put some o>f his 
thought-timber in wrong way around, or left it out altogether. 



LACONICS. 1 1 1 



QUOT HOMINES TOT SENTENTIAE. 

And which is right? Who knows? Do you? 

For me, I'm sore perplexed ; 
The last one proved his doctrine true, 

But so too will the next. 

THEOLOGIST. 

Here one avers — nor doth he speak 

As doubting or afraid — 
That in six days, in one short week, 

This world was " perfect " made. 

GEOLOGIST. 

Another there with mild rebuke 

States that this can scarce have been; 

That by " six days " the Pentateuch 
Must surely "ages" mean. 

philosopher. 
A third with neither will agree, 

And smiling he replies, 
" In boundless space there chance may be 

Worlds plentiful as flies." 

IDEALIST. 

Yet saith a fourth, " But think, and you 

Will very quickly find 
That neither " worlds " nor " flies, 'tis true, 

Exist, but only Mind. 

SCEPTIC. 

"And what is Mind?" a last one cries: 

"A perfume, spark, or wind! 
A shadow's shadow ! Nay, be wise, — 

Nay, tell me, what is Mind?" 

Pshaw ! Is it strange, friend, if we doubt 

These voices of the night? 
Come, let us cast Hope's anchor out, 

And so wait for the light! 

— Tinsley's Magazine, 



112 BKST THOUGHTS OF BKST THINKERS. 



LACONICS, 

THOUGHT POTPOURRI."© 

Every man's task is his life-preserver. — Emerson. 
Experience is the extract of suffering. — A. Helps. 
Nothing is so good as it seems beforehand. — George Eliot. 

A wanton eye is the messenger of an unchaste heart. — Augustine. 
Neither great poverty nor great riches will hear reason. — Fielding. 

A good face is the best letter of recommendation. — Queen Elisabeth. 

A beautiful face is a silent commendation. — Bacon. 

I pray thee, O God, that I may be beautiful within. — Socrates. 

All men's faces are true, whatsoever their hands are. — Shakespeare. 

Fame is the perfume of heroic deeds. — Socrates. 

Fame is a flower upon a dead man's heart. — Motherwell. 

If fame is only to come after death, I am in no hurry for it. — Martial. 

A laugh is worth a hundred groans in any market. — Lamb. 
Beware of him who hates the laugh of a child. — Lavater. 
The loud laugh that speaks the vacant mind. — Goldsmith. 

That learning is most requisite which unlearns evil. — Antisthenes. 
To be proud of learning is the greatest ignorance. — Jeremy Taylor. 

The end of labor is to gain leisure. — Aristotle. 

What sweet delight a quiet life affords. — Drummond. 

The office of liberality consists in giving with judgment. — Cicero. 

Every man's life is a plan of God. — Horace Bushncll. 

Man proposes, but God disposes. — Thomas a Kempis. 

We live no more of our time here than we live well. — Carlyle. 

A useless life is only an early death. — Goethe. 

It is an infamy to die and not be missed. — Carlos Wilcox. 

Life is the childhood of immortality. — Goethe. 

He that lives to live forever, never fears dying. — Penn. 

Light is the shadow of God. — Plato. 

Light is the symbol of truth. — Lowell. 

Moral light is the radiation of the diviner glory.— Dick. 

Men are, at some time, masters of their fates. — Shakespeare. 
We are not to lead events, but follow them. — Epictetus. 



LACONICS. 113 

What we learn with pleasure we never forget. — Alfred Mcrcier. 

Mercifulness makes us equal to the gods. — Claudian. 
A God all mercy, were a God unjust. — Young. 

We hand folks over to God's mercy, and show none ourselves. — George 
Eliot. 

Mind unemployed is mind unenjoyed. — Bovee. 

Methods are the masters of masters. — Talleyrand. 

Don't despair of a student, if he has one clear idea. — Emmons. 

A wise man is never less alone, than when he is alone. — Swift. 

The life of a pious minister is visible rhetoric. — Hooker. 

Every believer is God's miracle. — Bailey. 

It is impious in a good man to be sad. — Young. 

Man is only miserable so far as he thinks himself so. — Sannazaro. 
He that is down needs fear no fall. — Bunyan. 

Rats and conquerors must expect no mercy in misfortune. — Colton. 
Heaven sends us misfortunes as a moral tonic. — Lady B'lessington. 
Sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier things. — Tennyson. 

A mob is the scum that rises when a nation boils. — Dryden. 
License they mean, when they cry liberty. — Milton. 

A crowd always thinks with its sympathy, never with its reason. — 
Alger. 

A false modesty is the meanest species of pride. — Gibbon. 
Modesty is the conscience of the body. — Balzac. 

Make money your god, it will plague you like the devil. — Fielding. 
To despise money is to dethrone a king. — Chamfort. 
.The use of money is all the advantage there is in having it. — Franklin. 
Mammon is the largest slave-holder in the world. — F. Saunders. 

Prejudice is the reason of fools. — Voltaire. 

All looks yellow to the jaundiced eye. — Pope. 

Ignorance is less remote from the truth than prejudice. — Diderot. 

Prejudice is the child of ignorance. — Hazlitt. 

Progress is the activity of to-day and the assurance of to-morrow — 

Emerson. 
Intercourse is the soul of progress. — Buxton. 
Revolutions never go backwards. — Emerson. 
Progress — the onward stride of God. — Victor Hugo. 

Every brave man is a man of his word. — Comeille. 

An acre of performance is worth the whole world of promise. — Hozuell. 

I had rather do and not promise, than promise and not do. — A. Warwick. 

In prosperity, prepare for a change; in adversity, hope for one. — Burgh. 

All sunshine makes the desert. — Arab Proverb. 

Everything may be endured, except continual prosperity. — Goethe. 



114 B BST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Few maxims are true from every point of view. — Vauvenargues. 
Proverbs may be said to be the abridgment of wisdom. — Joubert. 
The wisdom of many and the wit of one. — Lord John Russell. 
Maxims are the condensed good sense of nations. — Sir J. Mackintosh. 
Proverbs are the cream of a nation's thought. — Anon. 
The public is wiser than the wisest critic. — Bancroft. 

Punishment is justice for the unjust. — Augustine. 

The rapture of pursuing is the prize the vanquished gain. — Longfellow. 

An apt quotation is as good as an original remark. — Proverb. 
Quotation is the highest compliment you can pay an author. — Johnson. 
Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it, — 

Emerson. 
Full of wise saws and modern instances. — Shakespeare. 
Our best thoughts come from others. — Emerson. 
With just enough of learning to misquote. — Byron. 
Fine words! I wonder where you stole them. — Swift. 

I have only made a nosegay of culled flowers, and have brought nothing 
of my own but the thread that ties them together. — Montaigne. 



BUSINESS OF A COLLEGE PRESIDENT. II5 



THE BUSINESS OF A COLLEGE PRESIDENT. 

By Charles F. Thwing, LL.D., President of 
Western Reserve University. 

In the resolutions passed by the corporation of Boston 
University on the occasion of the observance of its twenty- 
fifth anniversary, addressed to its first and only president, — 
Dr. William F. Warren, — the following phrases are used : 
" to mould the destinies of an institution," " the wise and 
liberal counsels of one who has held steadily to the highest 
and most comprehensive ideals," " the catholic and progres- 
sive spirit." These phrases are significant of general duties 
as well as replete with intimations of happy personal relation- 
ships and official achievements. A president should be able 
to " mould the destinies of the institution " of which he is the 
chief executive. A president should also be able to give 
" counsels " " wise and liberal," and he should also be able 
to hold " steadily," both in time and in condition " to 1 the 
highest and most comprehensive ideals " ; he should also 
embody and manifest a "catholic and progressive spirit." 

Ultimate purposes are the one thing; subordinate pur- 
poses are quite another. Subordinate purposes frequently 
become means or methods for securing ultimate ends. Mould- 
ing the destinies of an institution is a subordinate aim which 
becomes a means for securing aims yet higher. Wise and 
liberal counsels also embody subordinate purposes which eas- 
ily are transmuted into means for gaining ultimate purposes. 
A catholic and progressive spirit is a good in itself, but it is 
also a means and method for attaining even a better good. 
The characterizations which are applied to the president of 
Boston University, on the whole, represent secondary pur- 
poses or means for securing the most adequate results. 



Il6 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

THE PRESIDENT'S MAIN DUTY. 

The main duty of a college president is to train students 
unto the holding of highest ideals and to the embodying of 
these ideals in public service. The society of a prosperous 
dempcracy is beset by the temptation of not holding highest 
ideals. In point of intellectual condition the so-called higher 
classes in a prosperous democracy are subject to the tempta- 
tions of mediocrity and commonplaceness, and the lower 
classes to the temptation of brutalism. In point of manners 
and social conditions the higher classes are open to the temp- 
tation of arrogance; the middle classes to the temptation 
of pettiness, and the lower classes to the temptation of besti- 
ality. To each of these classes a university, through its 
president and other officers, owes, a special duty. To the 
higher it owes the duty of teaching the lesson of spirituality; 
to the middle it owes the duty of teaching the relative values 
of personalities and of things; to the lower it owes the duty 
of teaching gentleness, humility, and purity. 

These spiritual ideas of the race are to be realized in 
service for the people. This service for the people may take 
on formal or informal relations. It may be given through the 
constituted government; it may be given through the gen- 
eral relations of the community and of society. If given 
through the formal government the duty of the university 
represents, the training of worthy officers of and for the com- 
monwealth. 

TWO KINDS OP EDUCATION. 

This education may be either one of two* sorts : The one 
kind is the clerical and the less arduous administrative type. 
Such is the training given to the young Englishmen who are 
to' occupy positions of a clerical grade in the colonial govern- 
ments, This training is valuable, and leads to resulting values 
in the interest of the government and of humanity. The other 
kind of training is less direct, and yet it is the more valuable, 
as it is the less directly immediate in its purpose. It relates 
to general preparation for the most important administrative 
and executive places. It is a preparation which is general. 



BUSINESS OF A COLLEGE PRESIDENT. 117 

The primary purpose of such a preparation is identical with 
the primary purpose of education. It seeks to make each 
man a thinker, a weigher of evidence, and judge of relations. 
It does not fit one to become President or a legislator or a 
member of the Supreme Court. It desires simply so to train 
the intellect, as well as all the other parts of one's nature, that 
the man, if elected President or legislator or appointed judge, 
shall do the work belonging to- the position with efficiency and 
satisfaction. It looks upon government in its higher relations 
as first a means and second an end. Government in its lower 
relations is first an end and secondarily a means. No nation 
has had a diplomatic corps of so noble a character or of so 
great fitness for diplomacy as has had England. She has 
had no school for this training. She has had schools for 
the training of men for the clerical and subordinate positions 
of the various colonial boards, but the men whom she has 
called into her service and service of humanity for large re- 
lationships have been trained as gentlemen, as scholars, and as 
thinkers at her universities. Through such a training these 
men have been best fitted to* consider and to perform the 
special business committed to them. In a democracy it would 
be useless, and to some extent ridiculous, to seek to train men 
for the higher positions of government. Such training would 
sacrifice a noble elevation of mind and a fine sense of universal 
relationship to mere professional narrowness and technical 
effectiveness. In government, as in certain other of the largest 
interests of mankind, the specialist and the expert are not 
the men of the largest wisdom or the most permanent serv— 
iceableness, important or necessary as are the services which 
the expert and the specialist render in most departments of 
life. For government is not a realm for specialists. The 
qualities which constitute a good legislator are the simple 
qualities of sound judgment and interpretation. The quali- 
ties which constitute a good secretary of the treasury are the 
same qualities which constitute a good banker or a good fidu- 
ciary trustee. In preparing men for the highest places in and 
through the government, let the university be content with 
making the thinker. Once able to think, the special problems 



Il8 BE&T THOUGHTS OF B3ST THINKERS. 

submitted to an administrator for his solution he will solve 
with ease, and the special duties imposed for his doing he will 
do with satisfaction to others and with facility for himself. 

A second form in which the idealism of the college may 
manifest itself in public service relates to political parties. In 
a prosperous democracy public attention is usually fixed on 
the party in power, and upon this power as an end and as a 
good in itself. This consideration is of the nature of a trans- 
ference of the interest which belongs to an end to the means 
for securing that end. This transference is not unnatural. 
For one becomes so accustomed to the party as a necessary 
method or means for carrying on the government that one is 
soon led to believe that the party is the government itself, 
and even that in extreme instances the government exists to 
perpetuate and enrich the party. The university is, therefore, 
to impress upon the people the truth that parties exist in order 
to give the most efficient government, and that that party 
only has special rights to be in power which gives the most 
efficient government. Therefore the universities, have been 
a silent factor in political affairs. They have been concerned 
only to maintain a sound and efficient government. They 
have been, and are, the most eager to remove any political 
party which has become weak while it has been trying- to 
govern. In the United States the universities have been the 
most conservative element in preserving the present govern- 
ment as a republic. They would be of all classes tne most 
averse to a monarchy of any sort. 

WHAT THE COIXEGK PRESIDENT STANDS FOR. 

One method, and the only one to which I can refer, for 
the maintenance of the highest ideals and for the embodi- 
ment of these ideals in the service of the people lies in the 
college president himself holding these ideals, and finding in 
himself their incarnation. He is to be hims,elf a great citi-^ 
zen. All that concerns the state or the community concerns 
him. Its honor is his pride; its dishonor cuts him to the 
quick. He is to regard himself as a trustee of the highest 
interests. He is to live a vicarious life, and, it may be, to 



BUSINESS OF A COLLEGE PRESIDENT. 119 

die a vicarious death. No sacrifice is to be held too dear, 
provided only, that by making it the highest and widest in- 
terests are conserved. Of course, he is not to be a busybody. 
He is to keep himself .free from fussiness; he is not to be 
primarily and constitutionally a critic. His mood is not to 
be pessimistic. In a large and noble way he is to be a shep- 
herd of the people. He may or may not be a technical leader, 
but, what is more, he is to do what can be done so 1 to train 
the people that they will naturally go into the best places by 
the right paths. He may or may not be a speaker, writer, or 
public man, but in his character, and so far as his abilities 
allow, he is to represent the highest ideals of and for the pub- 
lic service. 

KEATE AND GOOD FELLOWSHIP. 

It is sometimes suggested, and possibly more often by 
the impression which the college president gives through 
conduct and manner than through spoken words, that the 
promotion of good fellowship is his primary duty. Good 
fellowship is important both as a form of happiness, as a 
means to happiness, and also as a method for securing re- 
sults more important than happiness. But great results often 
accrue in academic administration which are remote from 
good fellowship. Students of the history of the English 
Eton remember that Keate was a master, severe, cruel, ar- 
bitrary. He was at many times apparently nothing less than 
a brute, although, let us say, he tried to be a just one. On 
one occasion he is said to have flogged eighty boys in a 
single day ; and it is told that one of the regrets of the close 
of his life was that he had not flogged more. But it is of this 
man of which Mr. Gladstone, describing a banquet com- 
memorative of the fourth centenary of the old school, says 
that when his name had been announced the scene was in- 
describable. The roar of cheering had a beginning, but never 
knew satiety or end. The whole process was such that 
all seemed to have lost self-possession and to be hardly able 
to keep their seats. When at length it became possible Keate 
arose; he struggled to speak, speak he could not. He tried in 



120 BEST THOUGHTS OP BEST THINKERS. 

vain to mumble a word or two, but wholly failed ; recommenced 
the vain struggle and sat down. Good fellowship! there was 
no good fellowship at Eton in Keate's time ; but Keate helped 
to train great men into great ideals and for great service in a 
great state. 

Yet there is a sense in which fellowship may be used to 
promote the realizing of high ideals in public service. The 
college president should keep himself in close touch with the 
individual students ; he should, indeed, touch them. He should 
know them by their names, as Lee tried to know the men 
at what is now Washington and Lee University. He should 
know their personal relations, tempers, potencies, and am- 
bitions. Through this personal touch the college president 
may do somewhat toward the creating and maintaining of 
high ideals in the hearts of the students, and also, let it be 
hoped, do somewhat toward inspiring them to realize these 
ideals through noble service among and for the people. 



FUNCTION OF COLLEGE EDUCATION. 121 



THE FUNCTION OF COLLEGE EDUCATION. 

By Henry Churchiu, King, D. D., President of 
Oberun College. 

President Butler only voices the fear of many when he 
says : " The American college hardly exists nowadays, and, 
unless all signs mislead, those who want to get it back in all 
its useful excellence will have to fight for it vigorously. The 
milk-and-water substitutes and the fiat universities that have 
taken the place of the colleges, are a poor return for what 
we have lost." 

The rapid changes that have taken place in college edu- 
cation in the last twenty-five years have carried with them, 
in many quarters at least, unforeseen and far-reaching conse- 
quences. The study of these consequences has brought to 
some of the most careful students of education, with whatever 
recognition of gain, a distinct sense of loss, most definitely 
expressed, perhaps, by Dean Briggs in his " Old-fashioned 
Doubts concerning New-fashioned Education." 

Other changes in other departments of education have 
greatly complicated the problem of the relation of the dif- 
ferent members of our educational system. Revolutionary 
changes, that seem almost if not quite to involve the elim- 
ination of the college, are soberly, even if reluctantly, sug- 
gested by distinguished educators. And other changes of 
relations that appear at first sight less serious, in which the 
colleges themselves, are acquiescing, may in the end make 
any adequate attainment of the older college ideal equally 
impossible. The result of the entire situation, therefore, is 
to press to-day upon American educators as never before these 
questions : Has the American college a real function, a 
logical and vital place in a comprehensive system of education? 



122 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Or, is it the blunder of a crude time and a crude people, an 
illogical hybrid between the secondary school and the uni- 
versity, that ought to hand over a part of its work to the sec- 
ondary school and the rest to the university, and to retire 
promptly from the scene with such grace as it can muster? 
Or, at best, is its older function now incapable of realization? 

Just because these questions, concern the place of college 
education in a system of education, they can be answered 
only in the light of a comprehensive survey of the entire 
problem of education. 

The problem of education in its broadest scope may per- 
haps be said to be the problem of preparation for meeting 
the needs of the world's life and work. Much of the training 
belongs necessarily to the home and to the interactions of the 
inevitable relations of life. Much of it, probably, can never 
be brought into any organized system. But organized edu- 
cation must do what it can to insure, first, that no men shall 
lack that elementary training and knowledge without which 
they are hardly fitted at all for ordinary human intercourse, 
or for intelligent work of any kind in society, still less for 
growing and happy lives; second, that there shall be those 
who can carry on the various occupations, demanded by our 
complex civilization, in the trades, in business, and in the 
professions; third, that there shall be investigators, scientific 
specialists, extenders of human knowledge, in all spheres. 
None of these needs are likely to be denied — not even the 
last; for our age has had so many demonstrations of the 
practical value of scientific discoveries, that it is even ready to 
grant the value of the extension of knowledge for its own 
sake. That, then, every man should have the education nec- 
essary to render him a useful member of society; that the 
necessary occupations should be provided for ; that there should 
be a class of scientific specialists constantly pushing out the 
boundaries of human knowledge — we are all agreed. And 
to this extent at least, the problems, first, of the elementary 
schools; second, of the trade, technical, and professional 
schools; and, third, of the university proper, are recognized 
and justified. 



FUNCTION OF COIXEGE EDUCATION. 1 23 

We might argue for college education; that the world 
needs preeminently the leadership of a few of greater social 
efficiency than any of the other types of education by their 
necessary limitations are able to offer. For when all is said 
that can possibly be said for elementary, secondary, tech- 
nical, professional, and specialized training, what still does 
the world's life and work need? All these are necessary, but 
obviously, for the highest life of society, much more, and 
much that is greater, is demanded. Here are instruction and 
discipline, technical skill and professional training, and heights 
of specialized knowledge. " But where shall wisdom be 
found, and where is the place of understanding?" The ele- 
mentary school saith, It is not in me; and the secondary 
school saith, It is not with me. It cannot be gotten for 
technical skill, nor shall professional success be weighed for 
the price thereof; it cannot be valued with the gain of the 
specialist, with his enlarged knowledge or his discovery. 
Whence then cometh wisdom, and where is the place of un- 
derstanding ? 

One cannot answer that question by raising small in- 
quiries of immediately appreciable gain. Let us ask, then, 
the largest questions and note their generally admitted an- 
swers. Assuming that the world and life are not wholly ir- 
rational, what is the best we can say concerning the meaning 
of the earthly life ? What is the goal of civilization ? What 
is the danger of the American nation ? What are the greatest 
needs of the individual man? 

The wisdom of the centuries has not been able to sug- 
gest a better meaning for the earthly life, than that it is a 
preliminary training in living itself. The goal of civilization, 
our sociologists tell us, is a rational, ethical democracy. Our 
political students insist that the foremost danger of the nation 
is the lack of spirit of social service. The greatest needs 
of the individual man are always character, happiness, and 
social efficiency. If these are even approximately correct 
answers to our questions, then the deepest demands to be made 
upon an educational system are, that, so far as it may, it 



124 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

should give wisdom in living, that should insure character 
and happiness to the individual, and that spirit of social ser- 
vice that should make men efficient factors in bringing on 
the coming rational and ethical democracy. 

This requires that somewhere in our educational system 
we should attack the problem of living itself and of social 
service in the broadest possible way, and in a way that is 
broader than is possible to either the elementary or secondary 
school, though neither of these may legitimately shirk this 
task. Just this, then, is the function of the college: to teach 
in the broadest way the fine art of living, to give the best 
preparation that organized education can give for entering 
wisely and unselfishly into the complex personal relations of 
life, and for furthering unselfishly and efficiently social pro- 
gress. As distinguished from the other forms of education, 
it has no primary reference to the earning of a living, or to the 
performance of some specific task; it faces the problem of 
living in a much broader and more thoroughgoing fashion; 
it does not specifically aim or expect to reach all, but seeks to 
train a comparatively small, self-selected number, who shall be 
the social leaven of the nation. 

If the task so set the college seems too large, let us re- 
member not only that the admitted individual and social goals 
require no less, but also that the outcome of the maturest 
thinking upon man and his relation to the world, indicates 
that the best anywhere can be attained only through such 
breadth of aim. 

For if we seek light from psychology, we are confronted 
at once with its insistence upon the complexity of life — the 
relatedness of all — and upon the unity of man. But these 
principles deny point-blank the wisdom of an education ex- 
clusively intellectual, and require rather, that, for the sake 
of the intellect itself, the rest of life and the rest of man be 
not ignored. Positively, they call for an education that shall 
be broadly inclusive in its interests, and that shall appeal to 
the entire man. 



FUNCTION OF COI^EGE EDUCATION. 1 25 

If we turn to sociology, we meet, if possible, an even 
stronger emphasis upon the complexity of life, and a clear 
demand that, back of whatever power the individual may 
have, there should lie the great convictions of the social con- 
sciousness, that imply the highest moral training, and set one 
face to' face with the widest social and political questions. 
No narrow education can meet the sociological test. 

And if we ask for the evidence of philosophy, we have 
to note that its most characteristic positions to-day in met- 
aphysics and theory of knowledge — its teleological view of 
essence, its insistence that the function of knowledge is tran- 
sitional, and that the key to reality is the whole person — all 
refute a purely intellectual conception of education and logi- 
cally require a broader view of education than has anywhere 
commonly prevailed. 

And if as a Christian people, professing to find our 
highest ideals in the Christian religion, we seek guidance from 
its goal — that all men should live as obedient sons of the 
Heavenly Father and as brothers one of another — we are 
face to face again with that problem of the complex world 
of personal relations, that cannot be solved except through 
the training of the entire man. 

We have a right to demand from an educational system 
in large measure these qualities — judgment, adaptability, 
discernment, interpretive power, the scientific, historical, and 
philosophical spirit, and the culture adequate to enter into 
the great spheres of value — aesthetic, personal, moral and 
religious, — and it is evident that they can be given only indi- 
rectly and through the most liberal training. Do they not lie, 
in the nature of the case, quite beyond the limits of element- 
ary, secondary, professional, or specialistic training, and 
constitute the great aims of college education? Is there any- 
thing else likely to take the place of the college in performing 
this greatest educational work ? 

It will hardly be contended by any, I judge, that tech- 
nical or professional training, for the very reason that it does 
and must aim primarily at direct preparation for a particular 



126 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKKRS. 

calling, can give with any adequacy this individual and liberal 
education. 

The university, properly so-called, cannot do the work 
of the college, first, because its aim is distinctly and entirely 
intellectual ; and, second, because it assumes, with some reason, 
that it is dealing with fully mature men, in whose case any 
imposition of conduct and ideals would be out of place, and 
this assumption accentuates still further its strictly intellect- 
ual aim. But, besides this, in the very nature of the case, in 
its exclusive specialism, the university lacks, necessarily, the 
breadth of aim required in the fullest training for living, and 
quite fails to make its appeal to the entire man ; and so shuts 
out both indispensable interests and indispensable training. 
Even on the purely intellectual side, for the very reason that 
it looks to specialism in each line, it is likely quite to lack those 
general courses that even the specialist needs in other lines 
than his own. These three essential differences, then, — 
the purely intellectual aim, the assumption of the maturity of 
its students, and its exclusive specialism, — make the at- 
mosphere of the university distinctly different from that of 
the college, and make it impossible that it should ever do the 
work of the older college. 

The supreme opportunity that a college education 
should offer, is opportunity to use one's full powers in a 
wisely chosen, complex environment, in association with the 
best ; — and all this in an atmosphere, catholic in its interests, 
objective in spirit and method, and democratic, unselfish, and 
finely reverent in its personal relations. Such an ideal defi- 
nitely combines the best of both the older and the newer 
college. And the colleges that most completely fulfill this 
ideal have, I judge, a work which is beyond price, and with- 
out possible substitute. 

I do not believe that the proper demands of both liberal 
and professional training can be met where it is attempted to 
cover both courses, in six years. Even where the requisite 
subjects are all covered by brilliant students the value of the 
outcome may well be doubted. It is not to be forgotten that 



FUNCTION OF COLLEGE EDUCATION. 1 27 

it is time, and some real sense of leisure, and opportunity to 
take in the full significance of one's studies and to knit them 
up with the rest of one's thinking and living — it is just 
these things that distinguish cramming from real education. 



THE SHORTER COURSE. 

Hurry the babe as fast as you can, 

Hurry him, worry him, make him a man; 

Off with his baby clothes, get him in pants, 

Feed him on brain foods and make him advance. 

Hustle him, soon as he's able to walk, 

Into a grammar school; crsm him with talk. 

Fill his poor head full of figures and facts, 

Keep on a- jamming them in till it cracks. 

Once boys grew up at a rational rate; 

Now we develop a man while you wait. 

Rush him through college, compel him to grab 

Of every known subject a dip and a dab. 

Get him in business and after the cash, 

All by the time he can grow a mustache. 

Let him forget he was ever a boy, 

Make gold his god and its jingle his joy; 

Keep him a-hustling and clear out of breath 

Until he wins — nervous prostration and death. 

— Boston Transcript. 



128 



BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



LACONICS. 

BEST THOUGHT ALPHABET."* 

Ability is a poor man's wealth. — Wren. 

Beauty is but the sensible image of the Infinite. — Bancroft 

Common Sense is the knack of seeing things as they are. — C. B. Stowe. 

Duties are ours, events are God's. — Cecil. 

Experience is the shroud of illusions. — Finod. 

Facts are God's arguments. — Tryon Bdwards. 

Genius must be born; it can never be taught. — Dryden. 

Heaven, the treasury of everlasting joy. — Shakespeare. 

Idleness is the burial of a living man. — Jeremy Taylor. 

Justice without wisdom is impossible. — Froude. 

Knowledge is but folly, unless guided by grace. — Herbert. 

Learning passes for wisdom among those who want both. — Sir W. Temple. 

Modesty once extinguished knows not how to return. — Seneca. 

Nobility without virtue is a fine setting without a gem. — Jane Porter. 

Opinions are stronger than armies. — Lord Palmerston. 

Proverbs are short sentences drawn from long experience. — Cervantes. 

Quotation is the highest compliment you can pay an author. — Johnson. 

Reason is progressive, instinct is complete. — Young. 

Speech is great but silence is greater. — Carlyle. 

Truth is the handmaid of justice; freedom is its child. — Sidney Smith. 

United we stand, divided we fall. — John Dickinson. 

Virtue by calculation is the virtue of vice. — Joubert. 

Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop than when we soar. — Wordsworth. 

Xpedients are for an hour, but principles are for ages. — Beecher. 

Youth to the soul is everlasting, and eternity is youth.— Richter. 

Zeal without knowledge is like expedition to a man in the dark. — Newton. 



WOMEN AND COLLEGE. 120, 



WOMEN AND COLLEGE. 

INTERESTING STATISTICS — THE VARIOUS TYPES OE STUDENTS. 

Some interesting facts and figures are given in an article 
on " Women's Colleges and Their Executives," contributed 
by Jane A. Stewart to " The Booklover's Magazine." " At 
the time of the Civil War," says the writer, " there was but 
one educational institution of college grade which had women 
students. This was Oberlin College, which has been open to 
women since 1833. Now there are more than four hundred 
and fifty colleges and universities in the United States which 
are offering to women opportunities for higher culture and 
professional training. In the universities and colleges, where 
a generation ago scarcely any women were enrolled, more than 
a third of the total number of students are women. In the 
eleven higher educational institutions for woman only, which 
fulfill the true college standard in entrance requirements, 
training of faculty and curriculum, there are now enrolled 
5,152 students and a teaching force with university attain- 
ments numbering 502. The total number of women college 
students is estimated at forty thousand. 

" The increase of women in professional schools has been 
particularly marked in the last fifteen years. According to 
the carefully compiled figures of President Thomas of Bryn 
Mawr, the gain in numbers of students in medicine from 1890 
to 1898 was 51 per cent, of men and 64 per cent, of women; 
in dentistry, 150 per cent, of men and 205 per cent, of women; 
in pharmacy, 25 per cent, of men and 190 per cent, of women; 
in technology and agriculture, 119 per cent, of men and 194 
per cent, of women. 

" There are three distinct types of institutions for the 



I30 BEST THOUGHTS OF BKST THINKERS. 

higher education of women in the United States. First, there 
is the independent college for women only, which has de- 
veloped out of the private school and seminary, where our 
grandmothers were taught the meagre branches of knowledge 
which past generations deemed fitting for the sex which was 
destined to a purely domestic sphere. This type of college pre- 
dominates in the East, and is based on the conservative tra- 
ditions of the separateness of women's sphere of work. Never- 
theless, the great institutions of this type have swung into the 
main current of educational progress, and such colleges as 
Bryn Mawr, Vassar, Smith and Wellesley stand for the broad- 
est and most advanced ideas of curriculum and method. 

" Second, there is the compromise type, which is attached 
to a men's college as an * annex.' The chief examples of this 
type, Barnard and Radcliffe, are also in the East. Both are 
attached to great universities, and naturally both are of the 
highest grade. Barnard College, one of the youngest insti- 
tutions of higher learning for women, is most closely affiliated 
with Columbia University. 

" Thirdly, we have the co-educational type, which has 
now spread throughout the country, but which is best repre- 
sented by the State universities of the Middle West. 

"Of all the types of institutions for the higher educa- 
tion of women, the co-educational is the most interesting at 
the present moment. Its advocates claim that it is the ultimate 
type, and that the other two are simply stages in educational 
evolution. Aside from the educational theory which main- 
tains that women and men are mentally benefitted by asso- 
ciation in lecture room and laboratory, co-education is sup- 
ported by that strongest of arguments, economy. President 
Jordan of Leland Stanford University sums up the educational 
theory by claiming that women do more work in a more 
natural way, with better perspective and with saner incentives, 
than when isolated from the influence and society of men; 
and that, other things being equal, through association with 
women in the classroom, the young men are made more earn- 
est and improve in manners and morals. 



WOMEN AND COLLEGE. I3I 

" An attempt is sometimes made to distinguish between 
the ideals of culture of the different colleges. One hears dis- 
cussion of the Smith type, the Wellesley type, the Vassar type 
of college girl. The differences, after all, are very slight, and 
are growing less as the colleges are coming into closer contact. 
Nevertheless, there is something quite distinctive about the 
Oberlin ideal. A certain moral enthusiasm and an emphasis, 
on the social service which the college man and woman owes 
the world have marked this college from its earliest days. 
Dean Luce is an excellent representative of this splendid spirit. 

" The privately endowed institutions exclusively for 
women are well equipped materially, and the endowments of 
the principal colleges are growing rapidly. Three of them — 
Bryn Mawr, Smith and Vassar — are included among the 
fifty-two colleges of the United States having vested funds, of 
more than $500,000, and two — Vassar and Bryn Mawr — 
are listed among the twenty-nine colleges possessing productive 
funds of $1,000,000 and over. The total value of the prop- 
erty and endowments, as given for last year, is : Vassar, 
$2,611,150; Bryn Mawr, $2,000,000; Wellesley, $1,500,000, 
and Mount Holyoke, $1,400,000. If numbers were a guage 
of worth, Smith would be ranked as the first undergraduate 
college of the United States, for it has an enrolment of 1,048 
students. Wellesley is next, with 889; Vassar, 860; Mount 
Holyoke, 675, and Bryn Mawr, 426." 



132 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



LACONICS. 

BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT MEDIOCRITY. 

We meet with few utterly dull and stupid souls ; the sublime and 
transcendent are still fewer ; the generality of mankind stand between 
these two extremes ; the interval is filled with multitudes of ordinary 
geniuses, but all very useful, and the ornaments and supports of the com- 
monwealth. — Bruyere. 

Minds of moderate calibre ordinarily condemn everything which is 
beyond their range. — Rochefoucauld. 

Mediocrity is not allowed to poets, either by the gods or men. — 
Horace. 

Mediocrity is now, as formerly, dangerous, commonly fatal, to the 
poet; but among even the successful writers of prose, those who rise 
sensibly above it are the very rarest exceptions. — Gladstone. 

There are certain things in which mediocrity is not to be endured, 
such as poetry, music, painting, public speaking. — Bruyere. 

Mediocrity is excellent to the eyes of mediocre people. — Joubert. 

They are as sick that surfeit with too much, as they that starve 
with nothing. It is no mean happiness, therefore, to be seated in the 
mean. Superfluity comes soonest by white hairs, but competency lives 
longest. — 

The art of putting into play mediocre qualities often begets more 
reputation than is achieved by true merit. — Rochefoucauld. 

Nothing in the world, is more haughty than a man of moderate ca- 
pacity when once raised to power. — IVessenburg. 

Persevering mediocrity is much more respectable than talented in- 
constancy. — /. Hamilton. 

There is a mean in all things; even virtue itself has stated limits; 
which not being strictly observed, it ceases to be virtue. — Horace. 

The highest order of mind is accused of folly as well as the lowest. 
Nothing is thoroughly approved but mediocrity. The majority has es- 
tablished this, and it fixes its fangs on whatever gets beyond it either 
way. — Pascal. 

The virtue of the soul does not consist in flying high, but walking 
orderly ; its grandeur does not exercise itself in grandeur, but in medi- 
ocrity. — Montaigne. 

There are circumstances of peculiar difficulty and danger, where 
a mediocrity of talent is the most fatal quality that a man can possibly 
possess. Had Charles the First, and Louis the Sixteenth, been more 
wise or more weak, more firm or more yielding, in either case they had 
both of them saved their heads. — Colton. 



RURAL SCHOOLS. 133 



OUR FARMER YOUTH AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

By Professor Willet M. Hays. 
{Of the University of Minnesota.) 

The primary graded schools and the high schools of our 
cities and our State universities have been articulated and 
unified into a national system. In the newer States, which 
were settled after high schools and State universities became 
popular, this system occupies nearly the whole educational 
field. In the studies offered, in the location of the schools, 
and in the method of providing revenues this system suits 
the American people. The recent rapid development of city 
high schools, and especially the recent large financing of State 
universities by many States, and the falling off in number of 
new private and religious academies and small colleges, in- 
dicate that the State is more and more to be in charge of our 
educational institutions. No doubt parochial schools, small 
denominational colleges, and special schools will continue to 
have their large influence, because some of their functions 
the public institutions cannot perform. The largely endowed 
separate universities, as Chicago and Leland Stanford, will 
also carry an important part of the work of education. 

THE AGE OF SPECIALIZATION. 

A century ago, the whole framework of the education 
from primary to college classes looked to a finished education. 
The need then seemed to be an educated class. Now, our 
educated class has grown large, and has followed the law of 
the division of labor; it is divided into sub-classes of special- 
ists, each demanding and securing special education. A new 
system is a necessity. The introduction of machinery and 



134 BEST THOUGHTS Otf BEST THINKERS. 

cheapened transportation have carried the division of labor 
to all classes of people. Special as well as general education 
is now demanded by the people, because they have discovered 
the advantages peculiar to each. 

The old system of schools said, " Educate the man first 
and the specialist afterwards." This practically means that 
special education be confined to 1 higher education. It too nearly 
means aristocracy of special education, and too> nearly ignores 
the 99 per cent, who cannot take a college course before pur- 
suing a course in a speciality. The old-time apprentice sys- 
tem, instead of keeping pace with the greater needs for special 
training among the industrial classes, has retrograded. And the 
result is that our system' of education needs readjusting at the 
bottom and middle, so as to better serve those who drop out 
during the primary and high school courses, or upon gradu- 
ation from the high school, and enter at once upon work 
which usually proves to be a speciality more or less definite 
in its nature. 



THE MOVEMENT CITYWARD AIDED BY OUR SCHOOLS. 

In the old system, where the texts, the teachers, and the 
ideals were all centered in some city profession, and the road 
to fame was laid out through the complete course of a col- 
legiate education, the boy or girl who was to be a farmer had 
no special place. The assumption was that what was good 
preparation for entrance into the freshman class in college 
was equally good for the boy who was to be a farmer, or the 
girl who was to manage a farm home. The result has been 
that next to the more rapid increase in the demand for city 
workers as compared with the country demand, our schools 
have been the most potent influence in leading our people 
from the farm to the city. Our scheme of education has 
taught of city things rather than of country things, and by ig- 
noring the farm and the farm home, our greatest industry, 
farming, and our best institution, the farm home, have been 
discredited. 



RURAL SCHOOLS. 135 

THE FARM HOME VERSUS THE LANDED ESTATE. 

To perpetuate our unrivaled system of medium-sized 
farms, as compared with very small farms inhabited by mere 
peasants, or with very large farms owned by the wealthy and 
worked by hired servants, our government could well afford 
to continue making vast expenditures. Heretofore, its ex- 
penditures for this purpose have been in the form of free 
lands under the homestead laws. Henceforth they must be 
in the form of special education for the common farmer. Un- 
foreseen financial changes might turn capital to< purchasing 
" estates," and other economic changes might tend to greatly 
increase the percentage of Uncle Sam's acres owned by " land- 
lords." Reducing the proportion of that class who manage 
and " work " lands which they own lowers the average stand- 
ards of country wages and country living. The principal 
reason why the common farmers now hold the land is be- 
cause, by uniting their capital, their labor, and their brains 
with the making of a permanent family home, they can pay 
so much for land that the capitalist cannot afford to own it 
for leasing, or to' " run " it at arm's-length without pauper 
labor. Remuneration in the form of independent homes for 
families is not secured by the absent landlord and by only a 
few inhabitants on the large estate conducted by the owners. 
Whenever other industries, lag, capital seeks investment in 
landed estates, and once estates with expensive central 
buildings are developed, it is, indeed, very difficult to break 
them up into smaller holdings. European estates help to 
hold as peasants a large class of people who do not lack in 
ability, as shown by the rapidity with which they rise when 
placed on free soil in America. 

Since the farmer and farm home-maker on the medium- 
sized farm must meet sharp competition, special education 
for the mass of farmers becomes a matter of grave economic 
and civic as well as of educational importance, — a broad 
State and national problem. Our modest farm homes stand 
as our strongest political bulwark. Homes on farms worked 
by the owners are the best places to breed vigorous, people 



136 BEST THOUGHTS OE BEST THINKERS. 

alike for the country and city. Our educational scheme is 
not doing all it might to build up our country life, and the 
times are ripe for a natural and somewhat radical change. 
We need to evolve a branch of our educational system which 
shall be especially helpful in building up our farm homes, 
our farming and our rural affairs, and country life generally. 
The movement is well started, and some of the leading forces 
already operating need only to be correlated to develop a 
unified scheme. 

A SCHOOL SYSTEM ADAPTED TO RURAL CONDITIONS. 

Forty years have been necessary for the experimenting 
with and the development of collegiate courses, in agriculture in 
our State universities and State colleges. During the 
past fifteen years, experiments have been successfully car- 
ried out in establishing large agricultural high schools, 
and in a third as many years, of trial consolidated rural 
schools, with free transportation, have been successfully 
inaugurated in numerous localities. Once our educators 
generally realize the practicability and the. far-reaching 
importance of these three classes of schools, they will, 
doubtless, lead the people to adopt them and to arrange 
them into an articulated system. As city primary graded 
schools, and university and college courses have been articu- 
lated into a unified system, so the consolidated rural school, 
the agricultural high school, and the college of agriculture 
can be articulated into a parallel system. The one, with its 
industrial side strengthened, will serve the city life; the other 
will serve the country life, and without very serious loss of 
time the student who so desires can transfer from one system 
to the other. The whole system of American education thus 
unified will become as useful to* country people as to city 
people. 

CONSOLIDATED RURAL SCHOOLS. 

In Ohio and other States, and in Canada, consolidated 
rural schools, formed by consolidating from five to ten for- 
mer country " districts," are centered in buildings of from 



RURAL SCHOOLS. 137 

three to five rooms, to which the children are carried in vans 
from areas four to five miles square, and have proven their 
general superiority. The writer was changed from a doubter 
to an advocate by making a thorough inspection of a number 
of these consolidated rural schools in Ohio, and he has yet 
to hear of any one who has made a thorough inspection who 
does not believe that this form of school, in all regions where 
good soil makes farming profitable and supports a fairly 
dense rural population, will largely displace the little school- 
house. These schools are superior to the honored little school 
in the following ways: i. The course can be lengthened so 
as to include the freshman and sophomore years of high- 
school work. 2. Children remain in school longer, are not 
so often tardy, truant, or absent, and the school year is length- 
ened, thus increasing the total number of " days' schooling " 
secured by the people of the district. 3. These schools, re- 
quiring fewer but better teachers, who are better supervised, 
and have their work better systematized in grades, can give 
better instruction. 4. Pupils are less exposed to storms and 
have less wet clothing; the schoolhouses are better heated, 
lighted, and ventilated, have more appliances, and may be 
situated on demonstration grounds, where practice lessons in 
agriculture may be provided for. 5. The future farmer be- 
comes acquainted with the people of the township, instead 
of a small school district; the whole community is drawn 
together, the school vans often serving to carry parents and 
children to lectures, entertainments, and even to church serv- 
ices. 6. The " chores " and other industrial work on the 
home farm, which gave the education of the little school half 
its value, are here retained as an exceedingly important educa- 
tional adjunct to the rural school. 7. Such schools help to 
retain more of the best people in the country homes, and will 
articulate with agricultural high schools. 8. While the com- 
bined cost of the vans, teachers, and schoolhouse may be a 
little above that of the old way, the cost is less per day of at- 
tendance, and far less per unit of value received by the dis- 
trict. It pays in dollars and cents, pays in better civilization, 
and the sooner adopted the better. 



13^ BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

AGRICULTURAL HIGH SCHOOLS. 

The agricultural high school, such as has been established 
in each Congressional district in Alabama, will serve as the 
secondary high school for farmers, as the city high school 
serves the city people. Necessity, " the mother of invention/' 
is largely responsible for the first experiment in the line of 
an agricultural high school, — the Minnesota School of Agri- 
culture. The home requirements of the boys and girls, as 
gradually unfolded to the teachers in that school, have largely 
determined the direction in which the instruction has devel- 
oped. The course covers three winters of six months each, 
leaving the student on the home farm during the six crop 
months, where the industrial, business, and social position 
is retained unbroken. Eighty-two per cent, of the graduates 
remain in agriculture, 70 per cent, actually return to the farm. 
This school now has five hundred students, and the State 
Legislature is equipping it for double its present capacity. 

A large, thoroughly equipped agricultural high school, 
such as can be easily supported by ten counties in cooperation, 
as is being arranged for in Alabama, will surely succeed, 
while a small agricultural high school, supported by a town- 
ship or county, would be at a disadvantage. Neither the 
equipment nor the force of teachers in the county agricul- 
tural high school could be such as to satisfy so well the vig- 
orous farm boy or girl. Since the students must be away 
from home, boarding in private families, or in dormitories 
supplied by the State, they can better afford to travel a little 
farther and have the advantages of the well-equipped school 
supported by a group of counties, and the expense per county 
will be less if ten cooperate in supporting the large school. 
The North Dakota Agricultural College, at Fargo, and the 
University of Nebraska, at Lincoln, have followed the Minne- 
sota plan, and each now has an agricultural high school, with 
several hundred students. 

While the School of Agriculture holds an annual session 
of six instead of nine months, nearly all of the students work 
the other six months in practice work in farming and home- 



RURAL SCHOOLS. 139 

making", generally at home, and get more of real education per 
year than does the average city boy or girl who attends the 
city high school for eight or nine months. The improve- 
ment made in the young man or woman by this, three years' 
course of study and training is so- rapid as to cause constant 
comment from observers. A large part of the students who 
enter this school expect to remain on the farm, and would 
not be so much attracted to other schools, and probably 
would not go beyond the rural school. Common experience 
proves that the city high school, with its nine months' work 
in general studies, weans country youth from the farm. It 
emphasizes other things, does not give special preparation for 
farming, and the business position in the home farm is often 
disarranged, the result being that the student is educated away 
from the farm. The agricultural high school, on the other 
hand, has been found adapted to educate toward the farm and 
into good farming. Agricultural high schools will provide 
our rural schools with teachers, trained to carry inspiration 
for the country life into our rural schools, while teachers 
trained in city high schools too often have the opposite in- 
fluence. 

» 
A large class of farmers, educated in their speciality 
under a common system, where each student gains a wide 
acquaintance with his fellows in primary, secondary, and 
collegiate schools, will be able to overcome the present diffi- 
culties in cooperative effort in rural affairs. That colleges 
can do much to promote extensive cooperation is shown in 
Minnesota by the influence the college and station exerted in 
bringing about a magnificent system of cooperative cream- 
eries. The Minnesota and Illinois stations have successfully 
inaugurated systems of co-operation in the breeding and dis- 
semination of varieties of wheat and corn which yield from 
10 to 20 per cent, more value per acre without additional 
cost of tillage. With the assistance of a large body of ex- 
students, organized to promote cooperative business, social, 
and other merged efforts among farmers, the agricultural 
college, agricultural high schools, and experiment stations 



I40 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

would be profoundly influential in civic as well as in educa- 
tional affairs. The rural delivery of mails, country tele- 
phones, experimental research in agriculture, and coopera- 
tive enterprises in dairying, and in fire and hail insurance, are 
doing so much for the farmer that he is more than formerly 
ready to have faith that even country roads and education for 
farmers may be greatly improved. These two last-named 
difficult problems are worthy of still more discussion and 
experimentation. 

A prominent lecturer on economics truthfully stated to 
his class, that to conduct a farm in a proper manner requires a 
knowledge of more facts and more principles than to success- 
fully conduct a bank. An educator who was. brought up on 
a farm truly said that the boy who goes from city life to live 
in the country has much more to learn than the boy from the 
country has to learn upon entering city life. Our educators 
are commencing to see that the book of nature, and espec- 
ially the volumes, containing the stories of the industries and 
of our homes, are gaining a place of great interest in our 
public education. The body of thought along these lines is 
being put into pedagogical form, and has already gained a 
strong place beside the accumulations of general subject mat- 
ter. Our stores of literature are gaining a wider audience, 
because our industrial classes are bringing their vocations and 
their lives up where time and means can be afforded for gen- 
eral culture. Most of the poetry of life has not been tran- 
scribed from nature to books. More of the practical and 
scientific in our education aids us to read nature and to un- 
derstand the interpretations of nature written by man. Life 
on the farm is growing sweeter, broader, and truer. The 
farm home is becoming stronger. 



GOT. 141 



GOT. 

Under the head of Propriety of Diction, Hart gives the following, 
clipped from an English publication: 

I got on horseback within ten minutes after I got your 
letter. When I got to Canterbury, I go f t a chaise for town, 
but I got wet through before I got to Canterbury; and I have 
got such a cold as I shall not be able to get rid of in a hurry. 
I got to the Treasury about noon, but first of all I got shaved 
and dressed. I soon got into the secret of getting a memorial 
before the Board, but I could not get an answer then; how- 
ever, I got intelligence from the messenger that I should most 
likely get an answer the next morning. As soon as I got back 
to my inn, I got my supper and got to bed. It was not long 
before I got to sleep. When I got up in the morning, I got 
my breakfast, and then got myself dressed, that I might get 
out in time to get an answer to my memorial. As soon as, I 
got it, I got into the chaise, and got to Canterbury by three, 
and about tea-time I got home. I have got nothing more to 
say, and so adieu. 

The reader who is at all observant will have no trouble 
in discovering that there is perhaps no one word so variously 
misused as the word " got." There is no event in history, no 
fact in science, no hypothesis in philosophy, no theory in art, 
which may not be expressed by this convenient drudge. 



142 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



LACONICS. 



THOUGHT POTPOURRI. 

The ways of the heart, like the ways of Providence, are mysterious.- Ware. 

The heart has reasons that reason does not understandt — Bossuet. 

Mind is the partial side of man; the heart is everything. — Rivarol. 

Heaven has no rage live love to hatred turned. — Congreve. 

Hate no one; hate their vices, not themselves. — /. G. C. Brainard. 

There is not a moment without some dut}'. — Cicero. 

The reward of one duty done is the power to fulfill another. -George Eliot. 

Men do less than they ought, unless they do all that they can. — Carlyle. 

They can conquer who believe they can. — Dryden. 

Self-trust is the essence of heroism. — Emerson. 

Fields are won by those who believe in winning. — T. W. Higginson. 

Compliments are only lies in court clothes. — Sterling. 

It is wonderful how near conceit is to insanity. — Jerrold. 

Wind puffs up empty bladders; opinions, fools. — Socrates. 

No man was ever so much deceived by another as by himself. — Greville. 

If you would civilize a man, begin with his grandmother. — Victor Hugo. 

If you would know and not be known, live in a city. — Colton. 

Circumstances ! — I make circumstances ! — Napoleon. 

He is not great who is not greatly good. — Shakespeare. 

He is great enough who is his own master. — Bishop Hall. 

What millions died that Caesar might be great ! — Campbell. 

Sorrow's best antidote is employment. — Young. 

Grief hallows hearts even while it ages heads. — Bailey. 

Light griefs are plaintive, but great ones are dumb. — Seneca. 

Genius finds its own road and carries its own lamp. — Wilmott. 

Genius must be born; it never can be taught. — Dryden. 

Great geniuses have the shortest biographies. — Emerson. 

The best throw with the dice i? to throw them away. — C. Simmons. 



ARCHITECTURE OF EXPRESSION. I43 



LOOSE AND PERIODIC SENTENCES. 

The classification of sentences into " Loose " 45 and 
" Periodic " 44 is liable to give the impression that a '" loose " 
sentence is to be regarded as faulty. It is true that a loose 
sentence requires more care in its construction in order that 
it may not be faulty, and, for that reason, beginners in com- 
position are advised to make most of their sentences periodic. 
This will also cause a greater proportion of short sentences 
and thus add force and brilliancy, which are hard properties 
to inculcate into long sentences. In a master's hand, the long 
sentence may be given all the force and snap of a short sen- 
tence, plus the solemnity, or grace, or pomp, or dignity, or 
beauty, that only a long sentence will exemplify. 

The following from Milton is an example of the long, 
loose sentence, but nevertheless, most carefully studied; and 
with a masterly use of the connectives, and a proper attention 
to the logical succession of subordinate clauses, it is free 
from all forms of faulty construction. 

" Then amidst the hymns and hallelujahs of saints, some 
one may, perhaps, be heard offering, at high strains in new 
and lofty measures, to sing and celebrate thy divine mercies, 
and marvellous judgments in this land throughout all ages; 
whereby this great and warlike nation, instructed and inured 
to the fervent and continual practice of truth and righteous- 
ness, and casting far from her the rags of her old vices, may 
press on hard to that high and happy emulation to be found 
the soberest, wisest, and most Christian people at that day, 
when Thou, the eternal and shortly expected King, shalt open 
the clouds to judge the several kingdoms of the world, and 
distributing national honors and rewards to religious and just 



144 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

commonwealths, shalt put an end to all earthly tyrannies, 
proclaiming thy universal and mild monarchy through heaven 
and earth; where they, undoubtedly, that by their labors, 
counsels, and prayers, have been earnest for the common good 
of their religion and their country, shall receive above the 
inferior orders of the blessed the regal addition of principali- 
ties, legions and thrones into their glorious titles, and, in 
supereminence of beatific vision, progressing the dateless and 
irrevoluble circle of eternity, shall clasp inseparable hands with 
joy and bliss, in overmeasure forever." 

Contrast with this the following paragraph from Macau- 
lay : 

" An acre in Middlesex is worth a principality in Utopia. 
The smallest actual good is better than the most magnificent 
promises of impossibilities. The wise man of the Stoics 
would, no doubt, be a grander object than a steam-engine. 
But there are steam-engines and the wise man of the Stoics 
is yet to be born. A philosophy which would enable a man 
to feel perfectly happy while in agonies of pain, may be better 
than a philosophy that assuages pain. But we know that there 
are remedies which will assuage pain ; and we know that the 
ancient sages liked the tooth-ache just as little as their neigh- 
bors." 

And this from Channing: 

Beauty 425 is an all-pervading presence. It unfolds in 
the numberless flowers of the spring. It waves in the branches 
of the trees and the green blades of grass. It haunts the depths 
of the earth and sea, and gleams out in the hues of the shell 
and precious stone. And not only these minute objects, but 
the ocean, the mountains, the clouds, the heavens, the stars, 
the rising and setting sun, all overflow with beauty. The 
universe is its temple ; and those men who are alive to it, 
cannot lift up their eyes without feeling themselves encom- 
passed with it on every side." 



* AITH IN LITERATURE. 145 



FAITH IN LITERATURE. 

All good literature must be written in faith. That is its 
necessary condition. The writer's appeal is not immediate like 
an actor's or an orator's or even like a painter's, a sculptor's 
or a musician's. Its form is invisible, and in modern times 
usually inaudible, too. It works solely upon the lonely 
mind, and has no outward aid. Nor can its effect bo 
tested by anything like the demonstrations of a theater. 
A novelist once saw a young person blush over one of his 
books. An emperor once saw a dull person laughing over 
Don Quixote. But such visible expressions of emotion are 
rare, and in these days of print the author himself can hardly 
ever hope to witness them. That is why he of all working 
people needs, most faith. He has to cast his bread upon the 
waters, but it is extremely unlikely that he will find it again 
after many days. And (without driving a metaphor too far) 
we may say that the better the bread, the less chance he has 
of finding it. Instances are almost too obvious, but let us take 
the highest of all and remember that it was. only by a mere 
fluke that Shakespeare's best plays were even thought worth 
preserving. Or, to take the case of Blake again, what chance 
of recognition had the " Songs of Innocence " in 1789? With- 
in some thirty or forty years Charles Lamb and Wordsworth 
had discovered them. Within another fifty or sixty years, 
after that they became the common property of all who love 
literature ; but by what faith in beauty, and in man's ultimate 
recognition of beauty, must the poet have been inspired, who 
at the time when English verse had perhaps touched the lowest 
point could raise the song of " The Echoing Green," or " The 
Chimney Sweeper," or " The Divine Image," or that song of 
" Night " with its meter of subtle and varying beauty. For 
1 50 years nothing to compare with such things had been heard 



146 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

in England, and the world around Blake was contemptuously 
deaf to them. He could only write in faith that some day 
human beings would again be born with minds sufficiently like 
his own to perceive the beauty of his work. To remove a 
mountain is a trivial task compared with the confidence in so 
vast a change; and yet the change came. 

It is this faith in the ultimate similarity of great minds 
which makes great literature possible, for not even genius 
could produce without the hope that at some time its work 
would be taken at its value. An evidence for the faith may be 
seen in the peculiarity of all the work of the highest genius — 
that it appears capable of growth, no matter how old it has 
become. There are passages in Homer and Shakespeare which 
it has been impossible for the world to appreciate or under- 
stand till this very moment. They appear to* have been grow- 
ing with the world, so much more can the world discover in 
them now than at any past time. This is why the works and 
teachings of the highest genius are rightly called immortal. 

— Academy and Literature. 



BEST THOUGHTS AMPLIFIED. 

Flowers are the sweetest things that God ever made and forgot to 
put a soul into. — Beecher. 

"If flowers have souls," said Undine, "the bees, whose nurses 
they are, must seem to them darling children at the breast. I 
once fancied a paradise for the spirits of departed flowers." " They 
go," answered I, " not into paradise, but into a middle state ; the 
souls of lilies enter into maidens' foreheads, those of hyacinths 
and forget-me-nots dwell in their eyes, and those of roses in their 
lips. — Richtet. 

Flowers should deck the brow of the youthful bride, for they 
are in themselves a lovely type of marriage. They should twine 
round the tomb, for their perpetually renewed beauty is a symbol 
of the resurrection. They should festoon the altar, for their 
fragrance and beauty ascend in perpetual worship before the Most 
High.— Mrs. L. M. Child. 



LACONICS. 147 

When flatterers meet, the Devil goes to dinner.— Defoe. 

Flattery is often a traffic of mutual meanness, where although 
both parties intend deception, neither is deceived since words that 
cost little are exchanged for hopes that cost less. But we must 
be careful how we flatter fools too little, or wise men too much ; 
for the flatterer must act the very reverse of the physician, and ad- 
minister the strongest dose only to the weakest patient. — Colton. 



I chose my wife as she did her wedding gown, for qualities that 
would wear well. — Goldsmith. 

She that has a wise husband must entice him to an eternal 
dearness by the veil of modesty and the grave robes of chastity, 
the ornaments of meekness and the jewels of faith and charity. 
She must have no painting but blushings ; her brightness must be 
purity, and she must shine round about with sweetness and friend- 
ship; and she shall be pleasant while she lives, and desired when 
she dies. — Jeremy Taylor. 



Earthly pride is like the passing flower, that springs to fall, and 
blossoms but to die. — H. K. White. 

What a lesson, indeed, is all history, and all life, to the 
folly and fruitlessness of pride! The Egyptian kings had their 
embalmed bodies preserved in massive pyramids, to obtain an 
earthly immortality. In the seventeenth century they were sold as 
quack medicines, and now they are burnt as fuel! The Egyptian 
mummies which Cambyses or time has spared, avarice now con- 
sumes. Mummy is become merchandise. — Whipple. 



148 B£ST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



SOME LITERARY ASPECTS OF TO-DAY. 

Prof. Isaac N. Dkmmon, Michigan University. 

It is a common saying that we are living in a period of 
literary decadence. On every hand we hear the regret ex- 
pressed that no great books in pure literature are appearing in 
our day; that on the contrary we are weltering in a sea of 
literary mediocrity. This is accounted for by the cheapness 
of printing, the spread of popular education, and the con- 
sequent enormous increase in the number of partially educated 
readers, and by the haste with which books are written under 
the stimulus of the popular demand. It is quite the fashion 
to say these things nowadays; and whether they are alto- 
gether true or not, and there seems to be good reason for 
qualifying them, there is enough truth in them to 1 justify our 
making them a subject of discussion. 

When the total number of new books now issuing an- 
nually from the presses of the world is contrasted with the 
time of reading them at the disposal of any single individual 
reader, the prospect is certainly appalling. The word Deluge 
is a mild term for it. Carefully collected statistics show that 
upwards of ten thousand new books were published in the 
English language last year. At least six times as many more 
were printed in the languages of Western Europe, lan- 
guages read by many English-speaking people. A per- 
son who should undertake to keep up with the new books 
in the English, German, French, and Italian languages, 
would have to read about two hundred books every day 
in the year! But when we come to analyze our statisti- 
cal tables, we find that this impossible ratio can be largely re- 
duced, for the individual reader, at a single stroke. The ta- 
bles cover Theological and Religious books; the whole range of 



LITERARY ASPECTS OF TODAY. 1 49 

Juveniles; Educational, Classical, and Philological treatises; 
Law and Jurisprudence; Medicine and Surgery; Arts, Sci- 
ences, and Illustrated Works; Political and Social Economy, 
Trade, Commerce > Voyages and Travels; History and 
Biography; Year Books; Belles-Lettres, including Poetry, 
Drama, Novels, and Tales; and miscellaneous books not 
classified. It is apparent at once that a large part of these 
books are technical in character, and not literature in any 
proper sense of the term. Nor would any individual reader 
have the qualifications or the desire to read along all these 
lines. In other words, readers fall into more or less distinct 
classes with special interests and needs. For the adult reader, 
the Juveniles may, for the most part, be left out of the ac- 
count. Technical books naturally distribute themselves under 
the various professions and trades. We find also a great 
variety in degrees of cultivation and in natural aptitude and 
tastes among readers, all of which gives rise to varying de- 
mands. A recent writer laments that " thousands have read 
' The Heavenly Twins ' who are ignorant of ' The Waverley 
Novels,' and that other thousands are smilingly familiar with 
1 David Harum,' who know not Landor's name." This sim- 
ply means, when we look at it closely, that not all readers are 
fitted either by nature or education to appreciate Scott or 
Landor. Landor especially appeals to a cult. Fine as he is, 
he has, no message for nine out of ten who find delight in 
" David Harum." Again, even among highly cultivated read- 
ers there are wide differences in intellectual, moral, and spirit- 
ual aptitudes. One man cares little or nothing for poetry; 
another finds in it, as Bryant found in Wordsworth, " The 
voice of his own soul." One prefers a story; another a dis- 
cussion or some reasoned dissertation; and so on. It thus 
appears that there is a wide diversity of literary standards, 
and that some of these divergences have a permanent founda- 
tion in human nature, and will therefore continue to the end. 

For instance, the Story, 368 either in prose or verse, is the 
simplest, most elemental, most generally acceptable of all 
forms of literature. It is capable of the greatest range, from 



150 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

the fireside tale to the novel or romance in several volumes. 
It was the first form to be cultivated, and it still holds the first 
place in popular favor. Everybody has learned to read in our 
day, and everybody wants stories. And so we have the Flood 
of Fiction so much complained of. 49 This is inevitable. The 
Story holds first place and cannot be dislodged, even if it 
were desirable to do so, which may be doubted. No doubt 
there are glaring evils connected with the passion for stories 
as with every other good thing. The ease with which work 
in this kind can be produced, coupled with the insatiate de- 
mand for it and the cheapness of printing, naturally leads to 
a great amount of inferior work. The two factors of increased 
demand and cheapness of production, however, tend to pro- 
mote inferior work in all kinds of books in our day ; but for 
reasons above given the novel is perhaps, the greatest sufferer. 

Still, much that is now printed and embalmed in libraries 
under the name of scholarship, is the merest rubbish. Our 
own countryman, Mr. John Burroughs, in his latest collection 
of essays entitled " Literary Values," has a paragraph on this 
subject which is pertinent. 133 " Most of the Dantean, and 
Homeric, and Shakespearean scholarship," says he, " is the 
mere dust of time that has accumulated upon these names. In 
the course of years it will accumulate upon Tennyson, and 
then we shall have Tennysonian scholars and learned disserta- 
tions upon some insignificant detail of his work. Think of 
the Shakespeareana with which literature is burdened ! It is 
mostly mere shop litter and dust. In certain moods I think 
one may be pardoned for feeling that Shakespeare is fast be- 
coming a curse to the human race. Of mere talk about him, 
it seems, that there is to be no end. He has been the host of 
more literary parasites probably than any other name in his- 
tory. He is edited and re-edited, as if a cubit could be added 
to his stature by marginal notes and comments. On the con- 
trary, the result is, for the most part, like a mere growth of 
underbrush that obscures the forest trees. The reader's atten- 
tion is being constantly diverted from the main matter — he is 
being whipped in the face by insignificant twigs." " The 



UTERARY ASPECTS OF TODAY. 151 

great Dantean and Shakesperean scholar is usually the out- 
come of a mental habit that would make Dante and Shake- 
speare impossible." 

We are often urged to buy and read Histories instead of 
Novels. So-called histories in several volumes, written in as 
many months by some facile writer, and fully illustrated, are 
put forward by skillful advertising, and are sold by the thou- 
sands, on the plea that here you have something meaty in- 
stead of frivolous fiction. We add them to our shelves from 
which the ephemeral novel is excluded ; or, if we are not too 
virtuous, we put the two side by side. But it may be doubted 
which deserves the shorter life. Put the historical literature 
of the past ages beside the imaginative, and see which fares 
best. Which commands readers, and consequent commercial 
value to-day ? It is well known, that with a few notable ex- 
ceptions, the histories are so much lumber. Aristotle noted 
that poetry is truer than history, and time bears out his thesis 
in a most striking manner. 

The excessive reading of Fiction is only one form of 
mental dissipation. There are others, and perhaps more seri- 
ous ones. One is the fondness for minute and petty scholar- 
ship before referred to, which has been greatly fostered in 
recent years by the Germans in the study of the ancient class- 
ics. This method has been Widely adopted in English and 
American schools, not only for the study of the ancient classics, 
but of the modern classics as well. It affords such a beautiful 
basis for term examinations and is so easy to work ! Men who 
could not write a page of English that any person could be 
induced to read, can play the role of editor! And so we 
have all our English masters edited. Most of this work is a 
huge impertinence, foisted upon the attention of innocent 
school children and students everywhere. A young English 
instructor in a western university recently edited George El- 
iot's " Silas Marner," for schools. In a somewhat elaborate 
introduction he took up George Eliot's English, pointing out 
numerous places wherein it was faulty. The natural inference 
from this introduction was that if George Eliot could only have 



152 BHST thoughts of best thinkers. 

had the benefit of this young tutor's instruction, she would 
have been a much better writer. Professor Corson cites an 
amusing example of this petty editing in an edition of Cow- 
per's "Task" for schools. The opening words, "I sing the 
Sofa," might bear a word of explanation as affording a key 
to the meaning of the whole poem; but what do we find in- 
stead? A note on sofa calling attention to its Arabic origin, 
as though that fact had anything to do with the poem; and 
to cap the absurdity, the editor adds the question, " What 
other words in English are from the Arabic ? " The wrong 
to the student in all this is that his mind is stuffed with what 
it can not retain, and valuable time is lost which might be 
devoted to a wider and more appreciative reading of English 
authors. 

But probably the greatest menace to true culture in our 
day is the desire for miscellaneous information of all imagin- 
able sorts, which the popular magazines and Sunday news- 
papers are now supplying so abundantly, and in such cheap 
and attractive form. The Deluge that threatens us, most 
comes from that quarter. Let any one study the net result 
to himself of an hour's tasting in the olla-podrida thus served 
up to him, and he will see what I mean. You may spend an 
entire evening very entertainingly over a single number of 
almost any one of our current periodicals, and what have you 
in the end? A mass of disjointed information, which in a 
few hours, or days at most, will pass out of mind and be 
replaced by more of the same kind. To what purpose? To 
keep up to date, you say, as though it were any man's part in 
this world to go about as a walking current cyclopaedia. 
There is no greater delusion than to suppose this a mark of 
true culture. Knowledge is power, but not this kind of know- 
ledge. And yet I fear that the contrary view has taken strong 
hold upon the minds of the mass of our people. Teachers 
frequently foster this craze for miscellaneous and piece-meal 
reading, instead of directing their pupils to the treasures of 
pure literature. 

I repeat, the literary vice of our time is the general read- 



LITERARY ASPECTS OF TODAY. 1 53 

ing of miscellaneous bits. They paralyze the memory; they 
lead to no continuous thinking, 371 they give no insight into 
human character; they stir no lofty emotions. They may 
%erve to pass an idle or a weary hour, and should be classed 
in the list of diversions and not as means of culture. I may 
add that the daily and weekly journals, as purveyors of news, 
and as censors of public opinion and morals, have a great and 
notable field of usefulness; but as purveyors of literature, 
except in the lighter veins of satire and humor, they are a 
positive hindrance. 

A somewhat lively and entertaining controversy was 
started in London about a year ago, by a remark dropped by 
Sir Edward Clarke in an address before the Working Men's 
College, to the effect that during the last forty years there had 
been a " very strange and lamentable decline " in the strength 
of the nation's literary output. He compared the early and 
middle years, of the nineteenth century with the later years, 
and discovered no books, with perhaps a single exception, in 
the later period, worthy to be placed beside numbers of books 
in the earlier period. If we run over in our minds the names 
of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Scott, Shelley, Byron, Keats, 
Landor, Tennyson, Brownings Jane Austen, the Bronte sis- 
ters, Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, and try to parallel 
them with names of equal rank and power in our own day, 
we must admit that there is force in Sir Edward's depreciatory 
judgment. And yet, the well-known critic and literateur, 
Mr. Edmund Gosse, who had himself spoken of our age a few 
years before as, " a time of great funerals," took Sir Edward 
to task for presuming to have an opinion on the subject at all. 
His contention was that literary judgments of this sort ought 
to be pronounced only by experts! That a critic of Mr. 
Gosse's eminence should put forth such a thesis, is only an- 
other proof of the very general futility of the critical mind. 
On this principle no man should approve, or disapprove, of a 
picture or a book, without the authority of a professional critic, 
who must himself be an artist or an author. This raises, the 
whole question as to who has a right to judge. 



154 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

The present state of book-reviewing and book-noticing 
is at such an ebb that one may seriously doubt whether we 
should not be better off were the whole thing swept away, 
and books left to the same fortunes that other commodities^ 
are, without the intervention of a public taster. This very 
question, in varying forms, was submitted by The Critic in 
1902, to publishers, authors, and reviewers in succession, and 
their answers were collated and published in the June, Aug- 
ust, and November numbers of that journal for that year. 
Nearly everyone upheld the practice of reviewing, though 
some of the publishers made rather wry faces over it. The 
testimony of all was discredited from the first, of course; the 
publishers', because the system has become an important means 
of advertising; the authors', because their financial interests 
are bound up with the publishers,' interest; the critics', be- 
cause from it they derive their livelihood. It might be in- 
teresting to have a symposium on the subject from disin- 
terested readers. 

There have always been more books to be had than any 
cultivated man could read or cared to read. Even in the cen- 
turies of manuscript books, as well as in the early days of 
printed books, many volumes were produced that had a short 
life. There were poetasters in Horace's day, as he so fre- 
quently takes pains to let us know, who found means, to get 
their work before the public. A glance at Mr. Arber's Trans- 
cript of the Records of the Stationers' Company of London, 
from 1553 to 1640, reveals many illustrious names, but how 
small a percentage are they of the whole! You sometimes 
have to turn pages to find a single entry under the names of 
Spenser, or Shakespeare, or Jonson. The great mass of 
entries at this distance of three centuries are mere names. 
The same would be true, no doubt, of any period of literary 
history where any tolerably full record could be obtained. 
We are only a little worse off in this respect than our prede- 
cessors. Till recently we have suffered somewhat more in our 
country from crude and ephemeral books than have our Eng- 
lish cousins, which is due, no doubt, to our system of popular 



LITKRARY ASPECTS OP TODAY. 1 55 

education. But since the establishment of the Parliamentary 
schools thirty years ago, just after the Franco-Prussian war, 
a great change has occurred in the amount and character of 
the literary output in the British Isles. The cheap paper and 
magazine and the crude sensational story have increased 
enormously in circulation. English critics stand appalled and 
cry out against the debasement of letters due to this superficial 
and partial education of the masses. Where everybody reads 
and comparatively few are trained to think and discriminate, 
this is the inevitable consequence, the necessary concomitant 
O'f a democratic civilization. Nor do I think we should give 
ourselves undue concern about it. In the long run it will 
work out good rather than evil. Time cures all things. Mil- 
ton's great and far-seeing argument for the freedom of un- 
licensed printing is based on the optimistic assumption that 
men at heart love the good and the true and hate the evil and 
the false; and that accordingly freedom is the best atmos- 
phere for the growth of mankind in wisdom and righteous- 
ness and love of things beautiful. We can punish the offend- 
er, be it book or man, if the good of society is menaced, but 
liberty should be carefully guarded in both cases. 

But can anything be done for the betterment of the public 
taste? 425 Have we any personal responsibility in the matter? 
About the same I fancy as in other lines of conduct — by 
setting a good example, and exercising the function of persua- 
sion where we find an auditor ready to listen. But we need 
to avoid here as elsewhere all dogmatism and assumption. 
Disputation in matters of taste is. seldom profitable. So-called 
professional criticism often goes astray. A century ago, 
Jeffrey and the other literary autocrats of the day were writ- 
ing down Wordsworth and Keats and Shelley, covering them 
with sharp ridicule and scorn. But time has reversed their 
verdicts, and their brilliant sallies that set the tables of that 
day in a roar, are long since as silent as the skull of poor 
Yorick, and have justly been dubbed " Cobwebs of Criticism." 
The history of criticism would show numerous examples of 
this kind; I am not sure but they are the rule rather than 



156 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

the exception. Not very much is to be hoped from profes- 
sional criticism subsidized or unsubsidized. And for this rea- 
son : — "It is extremely difficult to discover what gives life 
to a book." I am speaking now, of course, of works of the 
imagination. Scientific and technical books can be judged 
and are to be judged on another basis — the basis 
of fact; and criticism there has a much greater ex- 
cuse for being. But in books of the imagination we 
are dealing with matters so subtle, so elusive, that there 
is small basis for certainty outside our own predilections 
— our loves, our sympathies, our ideals. Hence we find such 
diverse opinions about the same matters among critics of great 
fame. Goethe could not be interested in Dante; Landor 
could not read Spenser; M. Taine laughed at Milton and 
Wordsworth ; Carlyle abominated George Sand. It is a com- 
monplace to say that only time can settle these verdicts. The 
common heart of man in some mysterious way brings in the 
final verdict. And it is sometimes surprising to discover how 
correctly the common people have judged in the first instance. 
The crowd that filled the Globe theatre knew that Shake- 
speare's plays were superlatively good; the early editions of 
the Pilgrim's Progress were all read to pieces, so that a perfect 
copy is scarcely known. The folk of Scotland were not long 
in taking to their heart the author of the Cotter's Saturday 
Night and Tarn O'Shanter. In our country the most popular 
of our poets is likely to take the highest rank in the end. May 
it not be true after all that the best criticism is not in applying 
learned canons but rather where heart answers unto heart? 394 
Sympathy, 399 love, 410 — these are the keys that unlock the 
secret of great literature and reveal ourselves, unto our- 
selves. 375 

And here is a lesson for us in our own attitude as readers 
and guides to those that read. If worship is the life of the 
church, the open and receptive heart is the true and necessary 
avenue to the delights and blessings which good books bring. 

I have dwelt on the discouraging aspects of present con- 
ditions rather than on the hopeful ones. Much might be said 



FlSICAI, TORTURE. 157 

upon the other side. Personally, I have no fear that the love 
of good books will perish from the earth any more than that 
religion will perish. Both are founded in the primary needs 
of our human nature. And thus the permanence of great liter- 
ature is assured. We must believe in the future of letters. 
Matthew Arnold was right when he said : " Good literature 
never will lose currency with the world, in spite of moment- 
ary appearances ; it never will lose supremacy. Currency and 
supremacy are insured to it, not indeed by the world's delib- 
erate and conscious choice, but by something far deeper. — 
by the instinct of self-preservation in humanity." 146 



FISICAL TORTURE.' 



it is the cause of objection by poor parents to the 
Existing methods of public school education. 

Physical culture has received its hardest blow. 

People have been wondering whether it would ultimate- 
ly pay — this unheard of interest in the art of developing the 
human frame. 

Physicians have declared pro and con. 

This did not change the tide of public interest, however, 
and young people who formerly slept until noon are now 
up with the sun, swinging clubs, standing on their heads, and 
doing all that the " teachers " tell them will have a tendency 
to make them Apollos and Venuses. 

Down in Philadelphia there's a woman who thinks it's 
time that a halt should be called. 

Last week she sent the following letter to the principal 
in one of the public school buildings in the Sleepy City: 

Miss Brown: — You must stop teach my Lizzie fisical 
torture she needs yet readin and figors mit sums more as 
that, if I want her to do jumpin I kin make her jump. 

Mrs. Canavowski. 



I5 8 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

This is like the mother who wrote to a teacher not to 
teach Mary " anything more about her insides, because it 
makes her sick to her stomach." 

It has a merry ring and causes the teachers to laugh, 
but there is a prosaic side to it all that goes deep. 

Many hard-working parents send their children to 
school at a sacrifice. 

It's about all they can do to keep them supplied with 
shoes and school books, but they have suffered from lack of 
education, and it is their one desire to grant their offsprings 
the privileges of rudimentary knowledge. 

Consequently it is a deep pang to them, when they find 
that many hours of the week are spent in " fisical torture," 
clay modeling, basket-weaving, drawing and the like. 

What they need is more " figors." 

All of us realize when we are through school days that 
a little more " figoring " and less " torture " would have 
benefited us and better paved the way for the much heralded 
road to success. 



THE COLLEGE MAN'S LAMBS. 

A strapping big fellow, with " rah ! rah ! " trousers and 
shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbows, walked into a farmyard 
in Western Kansas, and applied for a position. 

The applicant explained that he was a graduate of a big 
Eastern collegej had played football, excellent in weight 
contests, was a record sprinter, and, in short, a man of ex- 
traordinary physical capabilities. 

The farmer had quite a herd of sheep that was causing 
him no little trouble to be herded properly, and he called the 
" college fellow " out into the pen about six o^clock the next 
morning, and stated that he wanted him to herd the sheep 
over to a certain place, and then drive them slowly back, so 
as to have them in the pens by seven o'clock that night. The 
new herder started out in rather awkward style, but the 



COLLEGE MEN. 159 

farmer, having so many duties to look after, returned to the 
stable to hitch up. 

Supper time came, and not a word had been heard from 
the sheep. Finally at eight o'clock the farmer began to be 
alarmed and was getting ready to go out on a hunt, when he 
heard someone come whistling through the yard, and in 
walked the new hand, all smiles and apparently not at all 
tired by his day's work? " 

" Kinder late. Hev eny trouble? " 

" None at all, hardly, thank you. Got along very nicely. 
But those three lambs did keep me busy, I will admit." 

" Lambs ! gol flip it ! Ain't got a lamb in the hull 
bunch." 

" Well, I guess you have, all right. They are in the pen 
now." 

The farmer, astounded, grabbed the young fellow by 
the arm, and they hurried to the pen. There, chasing about 
among the sheep, the farmer found three jackrabbits. 

— Kansas City Journal. 



COLLEGE MEN AS FATHERS. 

Pertinent at this time, in view of President Roosevelt's 
recent utterances concerning the tendency of Americans to 
have fewer children, is a part of the last annual report of 
President Eliot, of Harvard College, in which he calls atten- 
tion to the lessened number of offspring of graduates of that 
college. 

Dr. Eliot has ascertained from the secretaries of six 
of the classes of Harvard, all of which have been out of col- 
lege for more than twenty-five years, that the children of 
those graduates who married average but two to a family. 
Furthermore, 28 per cent, of the members of these six classes 
did not marry, so that there has been an actual loss in popu- 
lation, counting the offspring only. 



?60 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

In this connection similar statistics concerning gradu- 
ates of Princeton are published. They show that of 250* grad- 
uates in 1895, °' n ly I0 7> or 43 per cent, were married. They 
bad seventy-four children, the offspring being but 70 per cent 
of the married men. Of one Yale class graduated twenty-five 
years ago it is found that 81.6 per cent are married and the 102 
married men had 235 children, which is a trifle better than 
was done by the Harvard and Princeton graduates. 

Whether the number of the children of these college 
men is below the average of other American families, Presi- 
dent Eliot appears to think there is a cause for the failure of 
the Harvard graduates to have a larger number of offspring. 
He says it takes, too long for a man to get an education now. 
The professional man nowadays, he says, is fortunate if he 
completes his education and is in a position to marry before 
he is twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old. He thinks 
young men should marry at twenty-six, and to make earlier 
marriages possible he would have the school course end at 
seventeen or eighteen, the college course at twenty or twenty- 
one, and the professional course at twenty-four or twenty- 
five. 

It appears from this that, though Dr. Eliot deems edu- 
cation important, he regards marriage of more importances 
if the race of Americans is not to run out. — Cleveland Leader. 



INJUSTICE. 



" Do you agree with the scientists who declare that the 
inhabitants of this contment will in time take on the charac- 
teristics of the American Indians?" 

" Certainly not. It would be distinctly unfair to judge 
any country by its college yells." — Washington Post. 



who-when -where series. 161 



WHO- WHEN- WHERE SERIES— i. 

Note. — The " Who-When-Where " series covers the most familiar sayings of 
the earlier writers, commencing with Chaucer (b. 1328) and extending to and in- 
cluding Milton, (b. 1608). The 17th century will be represented under " Best 
Thoughts of that Century." 

GEOFFREY CHAUCER. 
1328 — 1400. 

Whanne that April with his shoures swote 
The droughte of March hath perced to the rote. 
Canterbury Tales, Prologue, Line 1. 

And smale foules maken melodie 
That slepen alle night with open eye, 
So priketh hem nature in hir corages ; 
Than longen folke to gon on pilgrimages. 

Line 9. 
He was a very parfit gentil knight. 



He coude songes make and well endite. 



Line 72. 
Line 95. 



Ful wel she sange the service devine, 
Entuned, in hire nose ful swetely ; 
And Frenche she spake ful fayre and fetisly, 
After the scole of Stratteford atte bowe, 
For Frenche of Paris was to hire unknowe. 

Line 122. 
For him was lever han at his beddes hed 
A twenty bookes, clothed in black or red, 
Of Aristotle, and his philosophic, 
Than robes riche, or fidel, or sautrie. 
But all be that he was a philosophre, 
Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre. 

Line 295. 
But Cristes lore, and his apostles twelve, 
He taught, but first he folwed it himselve. 

Line 529. 

And yet he had a thomb of gold parde. 

Line 565. 

(In allusion to the proverb, " Every honest miller 
has a golden thumb.") 



L&2 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Who so shall telle a tale after a man, 
He moste reherse, as neighe as ever he can, 
Everich word, if it be in his charge, 
All speke he never so rudely and so large ; 
Or elles he moste tellen his tale untrewe, 
Or feinen thinges, or finden wordes newe. 

Line 733. 

For May wol have no slogardie a-night. 

The seson priketh every gentil herte, 

And maketh him out of his slepe to sterte. 

The Knight's Tale, Line 1044. 
Up rose the sonne, and up rose Emilie. 

Line 2275. 
To maken vertue of necessite. 

Line 3044. 

So was hire joly whistle ywette. 

The Reve's Tale, Line 4153. 

And so to see, and eek for to be seye. 

The Wif of Bathes Prologue. Line 6134. 
(Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsae. 
Ovid, Art of Love, 1, 99.) 

That he is gentil that doth gentil dedis. 

Line 6752. 

Truth is the highest thing that man may keep. 

The Frankeleine's Tale. Line 11 789. 

The firste vertue, sone, if thou wilt lere, 
Is to restreine, and kepen wel thy tonge. 

The Manciple's Tale, Line 17281. 

For of fortunes sharpe adversite, 
The worst kind of infortune is this, 
A man that hath been in prosperite, 
And it remembered, when it passed is. 

Troilus and Creseide, Book III, Line 1625. 
One eare it heard, at the other out it went. 

Book IV, Line 435. 

For out of the old fieldes, as men saithe, 
Cometh all this new corne fro yere to yere, 
And out of old bookes, in good faithe, 
Cometh al this new science that men lere. 

The Assembly of Foules, Line 22. 

Of all the floures in the mede, 
Than love I most these floures white and rede, 
Soch that men callen daisies in our toun. 

The Legend of Good Women, Line 41. 



WHO-WH EN- WHERE SERIES. 163 

THOMAS A KEMPIS. 
1380— 1471. 

Man proposes, but God disposes. 

Imitation of Christ, Book I, Chap. 19. 

That this expression is of much greater antiquity, 
is shown by the Cronicle of Battle Abbey, P. 27; and 
also by Piers Ploughman's Vision, Line 13994. 

Also, note Proverbs XIV. 9. — "A man's heart 
deviseth his way; but the Lord directeth his steps." 

And when he is out of sight, quickly also is he out of mind. 

Book I, Chap. 23. 
Out of syght, out of mynd, 

Googe's Bglogs, Epytaphes, and Sonnets, 1563. 

And out of mind as out of sight. 

Lord Brooke, Sonnet LVI. 

Fer from eze, fer from herte, 
Quoth Hendyng. 

Hendyng's Proverbs, MSS. 1320. 

The Devil was sick, the Devil a monk would be ; 
The Devil was well, the Devil a monk was he. 

Book IV., Chap. 24. 



THOMAS TUSSER. 
1523— 1580. 



Time tries the troth in everything. 

The Author's Bpistle, Ch. 1. 
God sendeth and giveth, both mouth and the meat. 

Good Husbandry Lessons. 
For buying or selling of pig in a poke. 

September's Abstract. 
The stone that is rolling can gather no moss. 

Good Husbandry Lessons. 
A rowling stone gathers no moss. 

Gosson's Bphemerides of Phialo. 
Better late than never. 

An Habitation Enforced. 
This expression is also found in Heywood's Prov- 
erbs, in Bunyan's Pilgrims, and in Murphy's, The School 
for Guardians. 
At Christmas play and make good cheer, 
For Christmas comes but once a year. 

The Farmer's Daily Diet. 



104 B ^ST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Except wind stands as never it stood, 

It is an ill wind that turns none to good. 

Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. 

Ill blows the wind that profits nobody. 

Shakespeare, Henry VI., Pt. Ill, 5. 

Ill wind which blows no man good. 

Shakespeare, Henry IV., Pt. II, 3. 

Also, Heywood's Proverbs. 

'Tis merry in hall 
When beards wag all. 

August's Abstract. 
Merry swithe it is in halle 
When the beards waveth alle. 

Adam Davie, 1312, Life of Alexander. 

Naught venture, naught have, 

October's Abstract. 

Look ere thou leap, see ere thou go. 

Of Wiving and Thriving. 
Look before you leap, 

Butler's Hudibras, Part II, Canto 2, L. 502. 



SIR EDWARD DYER. 

1540— 1607. 

My mind to me a kingdom is ; 

Such present joys therein I find, 
That it excels all other bliss, 

That earth affords or grows by kind : 
Though much I want which most would have, 
Yet still my mind forbids to crave. 

Courtly Poets. 

Mens regnum bona possidet. 

Seneca, Thyestes. 

My mind to me a kingdom is ; 

Such perfect joy therein I find, 
As far exceeds all earthly bliss, 

That God and Nature hath assigned. 
Though much I want that most would have, 
Yet still my mind forbids to crave. 

Byrd's Psalmes, Sonnets, etc., 1588. 

My mind to me an empire is, 
While grace affordeth health. 

Robert Southwell (1560— I595A Look Home. 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES. 165 

BISHOP JOHN STILL. 

1543— 1607. 

I cannot eat but little meat, 

My stomach is not good; 
But sure I think that I can drink 

With him that wears a hood. 

Gammer Gurtoris Needle. 



SIR EDWARD COKE. 
1549— 1634. 



The gladsome light of jurisprudence. 

First Institute. 

Reason is the life of the law ; nay, the common law itself is nothing 
else but reason. * * * The law, which is the perfection of reason. 

First Institute. 

Let us consider the reason of the case. For nothing is law that is 
not reason. — Sir lohn Powell, Coggs vs. Bernard. 

The house of every one is to him as his castle and fortress, as well 
for his defense against injury and violence, as for repose. 

Semayne's Case. 

They (corporations) cannot commit treason, nor be outlawed, nor 
be excommunicate for they have no souls. 

— Case of Sutton's Hospital. 



MIGUEL DE CERVANTES. 
1547— 1616. 

Too much of a good thing. 

Don Quixote, Pt. I, Book 1, Ch. 6. 
He had a face like a benediction 

Book II, Ch. 4. 
Every one is the son of his own works. 

Book IV, Ch. 20. 

Blessings on him who invented sleep, the mantle that covers all 
human thoughts, the food that appeases hunger, the drink that quenches 
thirst, the fire that warms cold, the cold that moderates heat, and, lastly, 
the general coin that purchases all things, the balance and weight that 
equals the shepherd with the king, and the simple with the wise. — Pt. II, 
Book IV., Ch. 16. 

My heart is wax to be moulded as she pleases, but enduring as 
marble to retain. — The Little Gypsy. (La Gitanilla.) 



; 66 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

EDMUND SPENSER. 
1553—1599- 

The noblest mind the best contentment has. 

Faerie Queen, Book I, Canto I, St. 1. 
Aye me, how many perils doe enfold 
The righteous man, to make him daily fall. 

Book I, Canto VIII, St. 1. 
Ay me ! what perils do environ 
The man that meddles with cold iron. 

Butler's Hudibras, Pt. 1. 
Her berth was of the wombe of morning dew, 
And her conception of the joyous prime. 

Book III, Canto VI, Stanza 3. 
The dew of thy birth is of the womb of the morning. 

Common Prayer, Psalm CX, 3. 
Dan Chaucer, well of English undefyled, 
On fame's eternal beadroll worthie to be fyled. 
Book IV, Canto II, St. 32. 
Who will not mercie unto others show, 
How can he mercy ever hope to have? 

Book VI, Canto I, St. 42. 
For of the soul the body form doth take, 
For soul is form, and doth the body make. 

Hymns in Honor of Beauty, Line 132. 

Q 

SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
1552— 1618. 

If all the world and love were young, 
And truth in every shepherd's tongue, 
These pretty pleasures might me move 
To live with thee, and be thy love. 

The Nymph's Reply to the Passionate Shepherd. 
Passions are likened best to floods and streams ; 
The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb. 

The Silent Lover. 
O eloquent, just and mightie Death! whom none could advise, thou 
hast perswaded ; what none hath dared, thou hast done ; and whom all 
the world hath flattered, thou only hast cast out of the world and de- 
spised; hast drawne together all the farre stretched greatnesse, all the 
pride, crueltie, and ambition of man, and covered it all over with these 
two narrow words, Hie jacet! 

Historie of the World, Book V, Pt. 1. 
Even such is time, that takes on trust 
Our youth, our joyes, our all we have, 
And pays us but with age and dust ; 
Who in the dark and silent grave, 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES. l6? 

When we have wandered all our ways, 
Shuts up the story of our days ; 
But from this earth, this grave, this dust, 
My God shall raise me up, I trust. 

Verses written the night before his death. According 
to Oldys, they were found in his Bible. 

o 

SIR PHILLIP SIDNEY. 
1554— 1586. 

Sweet food of sv/eetly uttered knowledge. 

The Defence of Poesy. 
High erected thoughts seated in the heart of courtesy. 

Arcadia, Book I. 
They are never alone that are accompanied with noble thoughts. 

Arcadia, Book I. 
My dear, my better half. 

Book III. 



CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE. 
1565— 1593. 

Who ever loved that loved not at first sight? 

Hero and Leander. 
Quoted by Shakespeare in " As You Like It." 
Also, 
None ever loved but at first sight they loved. 

Chapman, Blind Beggar of Alexandria. 
Come live with me, and be my love, 
And we will all the pleasures prove 
That hills and valleys, dales and fields, 
Woods or steepy mountains, yields. 

Passionate Shepherd. 
Was this the face that launched a thousand ships, 
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium? 
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss. 
Her lips suck forth my soul: see, where it flies! 

Faustus. 

o 

RICHARD HOOKER. 
1553— 1600. 

Of law there can be no less acknowledged, than that her seat is the 
bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the worldi: all things in heaven 
or earth do her homage, the very least as feeling her care, and the greatest 
as not exempted from her power. — Ecclesiastical Polity, Book I. 

That to live by one man's will became the cause of all men's misery. 
— Same. 



1 68 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



SOUL POWER IN ORATORY. 

By Geo. K. Morris, D.D., IX. D. 
That some public speakers are orators and that others, 
though able men, are not, is universally admitted. It shall 
be the aim in this paper to show what makes the orator. In 
this attempt I shall be guided by the following simple princi- 
ples: 

i. The quality that makes a man an orator is one not 
common to all speakers. 

2. This quality is common to all orators of every clime 
and age. 

3. This quality is one which appeals to the universal 
man — not to special classes. 

It has been said, " There are some speakers to whom you 
cannot listen; some to whom you can listen, and some to 
whom you cannot help listening." The " you " is the norma 1 
man. The orator is found in the last class. You cannot help 
listening to him. This, however is not the whole story. The 
normal man not only listens to the orator but he is moved 
while he listens. The orator is one who moves men emotion- 
ally through speech and action. His words, attitudes and 
movements are media by which his personality is made to af- 
fect the sensibilities of his hearers. He is effective because 
he knows how to touch a common susceptibility — the uni- 
versal man in every man. 

4. This quality, which makes the orator is not a possesr- 
sion, an acquisition, but a state or condition; and is not 
always at his command. He cannot use this power, he can- 
not assume the necessary condition by simply willing to do so. 
Jf it were possible by a direct act of the will to put oneself in 



SOUL POWER IN ORATORY. 1 69 

the state in which every word and gesture stir the sensibilities 
of audiences, there would be no lack of orators. There is 
a place for the will in oratory, but it is a subordinate one. 

That condition of the orator's being by which he produces 
his effects is superinduced at the moment when the audience 
bows to its power. It is not the language used, nor the 
thought expressed — but these plus the condition of the 
speaker's emotional being as he speaks. It is something out 
of the ordinary. Under normal conditions the orator is like 
other speakers — indeed he may be inferior to many. His 
words, apparently so potent at the moment of his splendid 
confiscation, if spoken by an ordinary person, or by himself 
under ordinary conditions, would have been unmarked by any 
peculiar power. 

This potent condition arises unbidden. The orator does, 
not foresee its approach. If detected prematurely it is apt to 
vanish. The orator is absorbed in those mental and moral 
processes of which it is the result and which are effective 
because he is thus engrossed. Were he to attempt to watch 
the majestic operations of his subliminal self, to take account 
of their progress or to submit them to scientific analysis he 
would annul them. 

If the orator's power were subject directly to his will he 
would be able uniformly to place it in evidence; but he is 
not. Those speakers who have been most remarkable for 
power over an audience have been remarkable, also, for sig- 
nal failures. Henry Ward Beecher sometimes failed. I have 
heard him when one of his famous, lectures was listened to 
by a listless audience, though composed of persons of intelli- 
gence. Matthew Simpson, the eloquent Bishop who some- 
times rose to 1 sublime heights of eloquence, calling his, hearers 
to their feet by his enchantment, at other times spoke almost 
tamely. On an occasion when a guest in my home this in- 
comparable orator, knowing the interest felt by his host in 
this subject, introduced it into the conversation. In the 
course of his remarks he stated that there is something mys- 
terious about the condition of a speaker when he causes an 



I 7° BEST THOUGHTS OE BEST THINKERS. 

audience to be fused, as if by magic, into one, and to be 
brought into willing subjection to his sway. Sometimes, he 
said, in his own experience, when preaching, he would re- 
main entirely conscious of himself, and fully aware of his 
audience up to a point, when, as, he smilingly put it, " some- 
thing happened;" then, instantly, all would be changed. He 
would feel himself transformed and find the audience con- 
vulsed with emotion. He had not willed it, nor foreseen it, 
and could not understand it. Every orator of similar power 
would probably give similar testimony. I heard Mr. Simp- 
son when he was in his prime and saw an illustration of his 
remark. In later years he often spoke with less than average 
power. 

Once when listening to Frederick Douglas in his best 
days, I sat for many minutes wondering what could have 
given him his reputation for great eloquence. At length 
" something happened," and there was a transformation both 
of speaker and hearers. The effect cannot be described. I 
was lost to consciousness. When the spell was at last broken 
and I returned to myself nothing of what had been said re- 
mained in memory. Certainly it was not what the great orator 
had said, but what he had suddenly become that moved his 
audience as if it had been one person. How his, instantane- 
ously changed subjective condition was at» the same moment 
communicated to the crowd before him it would be difficult 
to tell. Science has no satisfactory explanation to offer. 
When asked for his theory, the Boston orator, Joseph Cook, 
said to me, " I do not know," but he hinted at " suggestion " 
as possibly accounting for the conditions. 

The late eloquent Dr. O. H. Tiffany, some years ago 
read a sermon at Ocean Grove which produced a profound 
impression on the immense audience. I did not hear it, but on 
my arrival the next morning I found everybody talking of the 
sermon, which, by many was declared to be the greatest dis- 
course which had ever been given from that pulpit, already 
famous for its eloquent speakers. The following winter, I 
heard him read the same sermon, on a fair Sunday evening, 
in his church in New York City. It was read without ani- 



SOUIv POWER IN ORATORY. 171 

mation and did not move his little audience of sixty persons. 
It was the great orator of the summer, and the identical 
sermon. " Something happened " to the speaker at the Grove 
and not at New York. 

Let us now ask what " happened," what always happens 
on such occasions to account for the presence of power al- 
most divine, and always recognized by the audience, however 
composed. Whatever we may find it to be, it is certain that 
it constitutes the orator. The ability to induce that condition 
differentiates the orator from all other speakers. Even the 
orator when this ability is not used is no longer eloquent. 

Before saying what it is that " happened " let us correct 
some misconceptions into which students of oratory some- 
times fall. 

First then it is not the manner of orators that explains 
their singular power. The manner cannot be ignored it is 
true. It is the means by which the orator manifests the power, 
but is not that power. It is the product, usually, per- 
haps j the automatic product of the subjective condition 
to be explained. Did ever two orators have the same 
manner? The manner is the man and is distinct as 
his personality. If this power lay in a manner it 
might be assumed. Then eloquence would be a knack. 
Hermagoras, before Cicero's, time, insisted that " Oratory is 
not a knack founded on practice." It is easy to copy a great 
orator's manner — and without result. " Blind Tom " could 
deliver one of Stephen A. Douglas's speeches, exactly imitat- 
ing the " Little Giant " but it was, not eloquence. The best 
elocution may be utterly void of power, even when founded 
on the example of some great orator. Did the eloquence of 
Demosthenes depend upon his manner? Would he have been 
less persuasive, had training given him another manner? 
Cicero became famous for eloquence while young and before 
he came under the influence of the Grecian schools of Rheto- 
ric. After two years of travel and study, he returned greatly 
modified. He had been vehement and impetuous in delivery; 
now he is deliberate and self-possessed. But he is Cicero still, 



172 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

the great orator, and his fellow citizens hear him with the 
pleasure of the former times. With a manner totally changed 
his eloquence is as resistless as before. 

I have heard persons contend that eloquence lies in a 
certain quality of voice. A great deal has been said about 
the orator's voice. There is indeed a certain magic in the 
tones of a great orator's voice, but it is there no matter what 
kind of voice he may possess. It may be a tenor or a bass. 
He may speak in a thin voice or in tones of thunder. He may 
use the " simple pure " tone of the elocutionist, or the heavy 
orotund. His voice may reflect the highest culture or its 
absence. The New York Herald once said, speaking of a 
distinguished prelate who had impressed the Metropolis in a 
great sermon. " He has the voice of a woman but the mind 
of a God." 

It is quite common to confound rhetoric with oratory. 
This is an ancient error, but one that survives to* our time and 
leads to evil results. Eloquence is misunderstood to be fine 
language. The orator is supposed to be one who expresses 
himself in fine rounded periods, who uses a very artificial 
style. Hence many a virile soul feels inclined to condemn 
oratory. It is said that any lawyer suspected of attempting 
to be eloquent would be discounted by the Court. But the 
power of Marshall was regal; Wirt was imperial; Rufus 
Choate could not help being eloquent at the bar; Webster 
bore all before him by his resistless eloquence. These men 
were not florid, and they paid but little attention to fine per- 
iods. True, Wirt sometimes indulged in a little play of that 
sort; but not when he took hold of his task in downright 
earnest. 

If the secret of eloquence were in what is known as an 
elevated style, all great orators would have been rhetoricians. 
But some who have excelled in oratory were men whose lan- 
guage was simple and quite void of ornament. On the other 
hand there have been many men, preachers and others, who 
were masters of elegant diction, but who were without the 
power of eloquence. Thos. Guard, a divine of some eminence, 
was a genius for elevated modes of expression. Those who 



SOUL POWER IN ORATORY. 173 

could appreciate his qualities as a rhetorician enjoyed listening 
to his addresses, Indeed, for many reasons, it was a privilege 
to listen to his utterances. He had much to say that was 
well worth hearing and he said it beautifully. But it was 
not always oratory. He gave one of his. great lectures in my 
church in an Eastern city some years ago. When he com- 
menced the house was crowded, the galleries were packed, the 
aisles were filled and all were animated with pleasure in pros- 
pect of the treat about to be enjoyed. Long before he finished 
his lecture the house was. nearly empty. He was absorbed 
in the delivery and seemed utterly unconscious of his van- 
ishing audience. It was great, but it was not oratory, it was 
not eloquence. It appealed only to the few ; those who were 
on his own plane enjoyed him, but the universal man in every 
man wearied of his flood of words. Those who were pleased 
were greatly pleased, but the majority would not remain 
through the monologue which went on for two hours and a 
half. His power was different from that of the orator in 
that it appealed only to a class and not to common human 
nature. 

Some persons entertain the opinion that great intellect- 
ual power constitutes the orator; eloquence is great thought, 
magnificent expression; it is, logic, convincing argument, 
plainly set forth. But is it not true that many speakers who 
were incapable of profound and sustained thought have been 
most powerful in the mastery of great audiences? The 
highest dramatic oratory in some cases, if not most, is born 
rather of vision than of thought. Gough did not think; he 
saw. Not what he thought, but what he pictured put him 
in that condition which never failed, for many years, to in- 
flame his audiences no matter how heterogeneous they were. 

On the other hand many a speaker of greatest mental 
power, dealing in grandest thoughts, utterly fails to com- 
mand a hearing from the people. He is a giant intellectually 
— but he is not an orator; his. profound abstractions weight- 
ily uttered are cold. In all the respects named the orators of 
all lands and ages have differed one from the other. To no 
one or more of the qualities considered is man as man sus- 



174 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

ceptible. If they were all united in some most fortunate 
person still many would listen, if at all, without that response 
which eloquence awakens among all classes of hearers. No 
quality, however exalted, no degree of culture, no assem- 
blage of qualities exhibited by a speaker which fail to stir the 
emotions can explain the ability to master audiences. He 
who possesses any or all of them, whatever else he may be, 
is not an orator necessarily. 

The answer to the question: What is oratory or what 
constitutes an orator, though very simple, is overlooked largely 
because we fail to make a distinction between an orator, 
simply, on the one hand and the great orator on the other. 
This distinction exists and must be recognized in any clear 
thinking on the subject. 

Robert Ingersoll says : " Oratory is the perfection of 
thought and expression — of logic, of personal presence, of 
voice and gesture." It would require genius to miss the mark 
more completely. No instance of such oratory has ever been 
known. A man might be all this — were it possible — and 
yet not be an orator. Ingersoll was an orator though he was 
not an example of one " perfect in thought and expression, in 
logic, in personal presence, in voice and in gesture." His 
thought was never profound and rarely correct — his logic 
was always lame. 

In a sentence following the one quoted above he adds: 
" The great orator idealizes all he touches, transfigures the 
common, and changes the meanest metal into gold. He is a 
creator. He is candid, sincere, poetic, winged with imagina- 
tion, sympathetic, persuasive, convincing and almost irresist- 
ible." This is rhetoric — but suggests a truth. Again he says: 
" The great orator is a genius." True. But the genius is 
not necessarily an orator at all, not to say a great orator. 
Furthermore, there has been many an orator who was no 
genius. 

There are just two things essential to oratory, viz: 
normal manhood, and passion. To be a great orator it is 



SOUI^ POWER IN ORATORY. 175 

necessary to be a great personality gifted above others. The 
orator is a man in such earnest as to have his passional nature 
dominate expression. He is a man whose thought, be it great 
or small, has become a conflagration, and has fused all his 
powers into unity. Passion has coordinated all the elements 
of his personality. Some one has well said : " Every man 
is eloquent when in earnest." The languages of the heart are 
many and are comprehended by all classes of men. Elo- 
quence is in a degree independent of mere words. A pause 
may overwhelm an audience. A glance — a pose — may be 
irresistible. Pere Hyacinth, in his best days, could power- 
fully affect men who did not know the meaning of a word 
he spoke. On the other hand masses of men could listen to 
the most powerful logic unmoved if the speaker himself spoke 
only from the brain. The power that commands is the power 
of the heart. Heart is imperial. It rules in the orator, and 
through him commands the audience. It commands all the 
orator possesses. If the speaker is great in resources, if he 
is* affluent in knowledge and thought, if he is large in sym- 
pathy — rich in experience ; then when some great occasion 
gives the spark that sets his great soul aflame he becomes a 
great orator. Then the keener and grander his intellect, the 
more faultless his logic; the finer his rhetoric; the more 
exquisite his culture; the more refined his manner; the more 
resplendent the display — the more overwhelming is his 
power. The heart alone is master of the will. Only when the 
heart says the word can the will command every resource 
of the personality. Here is the law that separates and that 
will forever separate the orator from the actor. Let the actor 
study ever so carefully, he can never assume command of 
whatever genius he may possess, until his heart awakens and 
gives his will the power to command. He cannot will to act 
as if he really felt. One moment of genuine feeling would 
instantly transform him as if by magic. The mere actor, how- 
ever painstaking, is always theatrical — the orator is always 
dramatic — never theatrical. Here lies the explanation of 
the mischief wrought by the plague of theatrical elocutionists. 
There is a bridgeless abyss between the theatrical and the 



I76 B£ST THOUGHTS OF BE&T THINKERS. 

dramatic. The former represents passion — the passion of 
another; the later is passion appropriately expressing itself. 
Some great actors become dramatic because they make the 
play their own — many an artificial speaker becomes theatri- 
cal by attempting to represent passion he does not feel, ap- 
parently thinking that to simulate feeling is to be eloquent. 
Men while listening to a speaker are impressed, sometimes 
dazed by great intellectual power, they are convinced by keen 
logic, pleased by skilful rhetoric, amused by wit and humor, 
but they are persuaded by successful appeals to their emo- 
tions. The distinctive power of the orator is the power of 
a personality inflamed in its totality by incandescent emotion, 
a power acknowledged by all because all have a heart. 



LACONICS. 

BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT ORATORY. 

Eloquence is vehement simplicity. — Cecil. 

He is the eloquent man who can treat subjects of an humble nature 
with delicacy, lofty things impressively, and moderate things temperately. 
— Cicero. 

What too many orators want in depth, they give you in length. — 
Montesquieu. 

The effective public speaker receives from his audience in vapor, 
what he pours back on them in a flood. — Gladstone. 

There is no power like that of true oratory. Caesar controlled men 
by exciting their fears ; Cicero, by captivating their affections and sway- 
ing their passions. The influence of the one perished with its author ; 
that of the other continues to this cjfay. — Henry Clay. 

The language of the heart which comes from the heart and goes to 
the heart — is always simple, graceful, and full of power, but no art of 
rhetoric can teach it. It is at once the easiest and most difficult language 
— difficult, since it needs a heart to speak it; easy, because its periods, 
though rounded and full of harmony, are still unstudied. — Bovee. 



WHO-WHDN-WHKRK SERIES. 1 77 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES— 2. 

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. 
1564-1616. 

The Tempest: 
I would fain die a dry death. — Act I, Sc. I. 

Like one, 
Who having, unto truth, by telling of it, 
Made such a sinner of his memory, 
To credit his own lie. — Act I, Sc. 2. 

Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. — Act II, Sc. 2. 

Fer. Here's my hand. 

Mir. And mine, with my heart in't. — Act III, Sc. I. 

He that dies, pays all debts. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

A kind 
Of excellent dumb discourse. — Act III, Sc. 3. 

Deeper than e'er plummet sounded. — Act III, Sc. 3. 

Deeper than did ever plummet sound, ' 
I'll drown my book. — Act V, Sc. 1. 

Where the bee sucks, there suck I ; 

In a cowslip's bell I lie. — Act V, Sc. 1. 



The Two Gentlemen oe Verona. 
Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits. — Act I, Sc. 1. 

I have no other but a woman's reason; 

I think him so, because I think him so. — Act I, Sc. 2. 

O, how this spring of love resembleth 

The uncertain glory of an April day !— Act I, Sc. 3. 

And I as rich in having such a jewel 

As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, 

The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.— Act II, Sc. 4. 

Except I be by Sylvia in the night, 

There is no music in the nightingale. — Act III, Sc. 1. 

A man I am, crossed with adversity.— Act IV, Sc. 1. 



178 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

The Merry Wives of Windsor. 
I will make a Star-chamber matter of it. — Act I, Sc. 1. 
All his successors, gone before him, have done't; and all his an- 
cestors, that come after him, may. — Act I, Sc. 1. 

Seven hundred pounds, and possibilities, is good gifts. — Act I, Sc. I. 

Mine host of the Garter. — Act I, Sc. 1. 

We burn daylight. — Act II, Sc. 1. 

Why, then the world's mine oyster, 

Which I with sword will open. — Act II, Sc. 2. 

The short and the long of it. — Act II, Sc. 2. 

Unless experience be a jewel. — Act II, Sc. 2. 

I have a kind of alacrity in sinking. — Act III, Sc. 5. 

As good luck would have it. — Act III, Sc. 5. 

A man of nry kidney. — Act III, Sc. 5. 

There is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance, or death. 

—Act V, Sc. 1. 



Measure for Measure. 

Thyself and thy belongings 
Are not thine own so proper, as to waste 
Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee. 
Heaven doth with us as we with torches do, 
Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues 
Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike 
As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touched, 
But to fine issues ; nor Nature never lends 
*Fhe smallest of her excellence, 
But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines 
Herself the glory of a creditor — 
Both thanks and use. — Act I, Sc. 1. 

Our doubts are traitors, 
And make us lose the good oft we might win, 
By fearing to attempt. — Act I, Sc. 5. 

The jury, passing on the prisoner's life, 

May in the sworn twelve have a thief or two 

Guiltier than him they try. — Act II, Sc. 1. 

Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it ! — Act II, Sc. 2. 

No ceremony that to great ones 'longs, 
Not the king's crown, nor the deputed swprd, 
The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe, 
Become them with one half so good a grace 
As mercy does. — Act II, Sc. 2. 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES. 179 

O! it is excellent 
To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous 
To use it like a giant. — Act II, Sc. 2. 

But man, proud man, 
Drest in a little brief authority, 
Most ignorant of what he's most assured, — 
His glassy essence, — like an angry ape, 
Plays such fantastic tricks before high Heaven, 
As make the angels weep. — Act II, Sc. 2. 
The miserable have no other medicine, 
But only hope.— Act III, Sc. 1. 

The sense of death is most in apprehension, 
And the poor beetle, that we tread upon, 
In corporal suffering finds a pang as great 
As when a giant dies. 

—Act III, Sc. 1. 

The weariest and most loathed worldly life, 
That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment 
Can lay on Nature, is a paradise 
To what we fear of death. 

—Act III, Sc. 1. 

They say best men are moulded out of faults. — Act V, Sc. 1. 
What's mine is yours, and what's yours is mine. — Act V, Sc. 1. 



The Comedy oe Errors. 
The pleasing punishment that women bear. — Act I, Sc. 1. 
A wretched soul, bruised with adversity. — Act II, Sc. 1. 
One Pinch, a hungry lean-fac'd villain, 
A mere anatomy. — Act V, Sc. 1. 
A needy, hollow-eyed, sharp-looking wretch, 
A living dead man. — Act V, Sc. 1. 



Much Ado About Nothing. 
Shall I never see a bachelor of threescore again? — Act I, Sc. 1. 
Benedick the married man. — Act I, Sc. 1. 
As merry as the day is long. — Act II, Sc. 1. 
Speak low, if you speak love. — Act II, Sc. 1. 
Friendship is constant in all other things, 
Save in the office and affairs of love : 
Therefore, all hearts in love use their own tongues : 
Let every eye negotiate for itself, 
And trust no agent. — Act II, Sc. 1. 

Silence is the perfectest herald of joy: I were but little happy, 
if I could say how much. — Act II, Sc. 1. 



l8o BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, 

Men were deceivers ever; 
One foot in sea and one on shore; 

To one thing constant never. 
—Act II, Sc. 3- 

Sits the wind in that corner? — Act II, Sc. 3. 

Shall quips, and sentences, and these paper bullets of the brain, 
awe a man from the career of his humor? No; the world must be peo- 
pled. When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should 
live till I were married. — Act II, Sc. 3. 

Every one can master a grief, but he that has it. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

Are you good men and true? — Act III, Sc. 3. 

The fashion wears out more apparel than the man. — Act III, Sc. 3. 

O, what men dare do ! what men may do ! what men daily do, not 
knowing what they do! — Act IV, Sc. 1. 

For it so falls out, 

That what we have we prize not to the worth, 
Whiles we enjoy it, but being lack'd and lost, 
Why, then we rack the value; then we find 
The virtue, that possession would not show us, 
Whiles it was ours. — Act IV, Sc. 1. 

O that he were here to write me down — an ass ! — Act IV, Sc. 2. 
Patch grief with proverbs. — Act V, Sc. 1. 

'T is all men's office to speak patience 
To those that wring under the load of sorrow, 
To be so moral when he shall endure 
The like himself.— Act V, Sc. 1. n 

For there was never yet philosopher 

That could endure the toothache patiently. — Act V, Sc. 1. 

Done to death by slanderous tongues. — Act V, Sc. 3. 



Love's Labor Lost. 
Devise, wit ! write, pen ! for I am for whole volumes in folio. 

—Act I, Sc. 2. 

This senior-junior, giant-dwarf, Dan Cupid; 
Regent of love-rhymes, lord of folded arms, 
Th' anointed sovereign of sighs and groans, 
Liege of all loiterers and malcontents. 

—Act III, Sc. 1. 

These are begot in the 'ventricle of memory, nourished in the womb 
of pia mater, and delivered upon the mellowing of occasion. 

—Act. IV, Sc. 2. 



I 



WHO-WHEN-WHERK SERIES. l8l 

For where is any author in the world 
Teaches such beauty as a woman's eye? 
Learning is but an adjunct to ourself. 

—Act IV, Sc. 3. 

From women's eyes this doctrine I derive: 
They sparkle still the right Promethean fire; 
They are the books, the arts, the Academes, 
That show, contain, and nourish all the world. 

—Act IV, Sc. 3. 
As sweet, and musical, 
As bright Apollo's lute, strung with his hair; 
And when Love speaks, the voice of all the gods 
Makes Heaven drowsy with the harmony. 

—Act IV, Sc. 3. 

He draweth out the thread of his verbosity finer than the staple of 
his argument. — Act V, Sc. 1. 

They have been at a great feast of languages, and stolen the scraps. 

—Act V, Sc. 1. 

In the posteriors of this day, which the rude multitude call the 
afternoon. — Act V, Sc. 1. 

A jest's prosperity lies in the ear 

Of him that hears it, never in the tongue 

Of him that makes it. — Act V, Sc. 2. 

When daisies pied, and violets blue, 

And lady-smocks all silver white, 
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue, 

Do paint the meadows with delight. 
—Act V, Sc. 2. 



A Midsummer Night's Dream. 
For aught that ever I could read, 
Could ever hear by tale or history, 
The course of true love never did run smooth. 

—Act I, Sc. : 
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, 
And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind. 

—Act I, Sc. I. 
I'll put a girdle round about the Earth 
In forty minutes. — Act II, Sc. 1. 

My heart 
Is true as steel. — Act II, Sc. 1. 
A lion among ladies is a most dreadful thing.— Act III, Sc. 

So we grew together, 
Like to a double cherry, seeming parted. — Act III, Sc. 2. 
Two lovely berries moulded on one stem.— Act III, Sc. 2. 



1 82 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

The lunatic, the lover, and the poet 

Are of imagination all compact. — Act V, Sc. I. 

The lover, all as frantic, 
Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt: 
The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, 

Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven; 
And, as imagination bodies forth 
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen 
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing 
A local habitation and a name. 

—Act V, Sc i. 



The Merchant of Venice. 
I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano; 
A stage, where every man must play a part, 
And mine a sad one. — Act I, Sc. i. 
There are a sort of men, whose visages 
Do cream and mantle, like a standing pond. 
—Act I, Sc. i. 
I am Sir Oracle, 
And, when I ope my lips, let no dog bark! — Act I, Sc. i. 
They are as sick that surfeit with too much, as they that starve 
with nothing. — Act I, Sc. 2. 

God made him, and therefore, let him pass for a man. — Act I, Sc. 2. 
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. — Act I, Sc. 3. 
The Devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. — Act I, Sc. 3. 
A goodly apple rotten at the heart. 

O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath! — Act I, Sc. 3. 
It is a wise father that knows his own child. — Act II, Sc. 2. 
But love is blind, and lovers cannot see 
The pretty folies that themselves commit. — Act II, Sc. 6. 
The villainy you teach me, I will execute; and it shall go hard 
but I will better the instruction. — Act III, Sc. 1. 

Thus when I shun Scylla, your father, I fall into Charybdis, your 
mother.— Act III, Sc. 5. 

What! wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice? — Act IV, Sc. 1. 

The quality of mercy is not strained; 

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven, 

Upon the place beneath : it is twice blessed ; 

It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes : — 

'T is mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes 

The throned monarch better than his crown: 

His scepter shows the force of temporal power, 

The attribute to awe and majesty, 

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES. 183 

But mercy is above this scepter'd sway; 
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, 
It is an attribute to God himself, 
And earthly power doth then show likest God's, 
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, 
Though justice be thy plea, consider this, — 
That in the course of justice none of us 
Should see salvation : we do pray for mercy, 
And that same pra3^er doth teach us all to render 
The deeds of mercy. — Act IV, Sc. 1. 

A Daniel come to judgment! — Act IV, Sc. 1. 
You take my house when you do take the prop 
That doth sustain my house; you take my life 
When you do take the means whereby I live. 

—Act IV, Sc. 1. 
He is well paid that is well satisfied. — Act IV, Sc. 1. 

How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! 
Here we will sit, and let the sounds of music 
Creep in our ears: soft stillness and the night 
Become the touches of sweet harmony. 
Sit, Jessica : look, how the floor of Heaven 
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold; 
There's not the smallest orb which thou beholdest 
But in his motion like an angel sings, 
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins : 
Such harmony is in immortal souls ; 
But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay 
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it. 

—Act V, Sc. 1. 
The man that hath no music in himself, 
Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds, 
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils : 
The motions of his spirit are dull as night, 
And his affections dark as Erebus. 
Let no such man be trusted. 

—Act V, Sc. 1. 
How far that little candle throws its beams! 
So shines a good deed in a naughty world. 

—Act V, Sc. 1. 
This night, methinks, is but the daylight sick. — Act V, Sc. I. 



As You Like It. 
Well said: that was laid on with a trowel. — Act I, Sc. 2. 
Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold. — Act I, Sc. 3. 

Sweet are the uses of adversity, 

Which like the toad, ugly and venomous, 



184 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; 

And this our life, exempt from public haunt, 

Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 

Sermons in stones, and good in everything. 

—Act II, Sc. 1. 

And He that doth the ravens feed, 
Yea, providently caters for the sparrow, 
Be comfort to my age! — Act II, Sc. 3. 

For in my youth I never did apply 

Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood. — Act II, Sc. 3. 

Therefore my age is as a lusty winter, 
Frosty, but kindly.— Act II, Sc. 3. 

And so from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe, 
And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot, 
And thereby hangs a tale. — Act II, Sc. 7. 

And wiped our eyes 
Of drops that sacred pity hath engendered. — Act II, Sc. 7. 

All the world 's a stage 
x And all the men and women merely players; 
They have their exits and their entrances; 
And one man in his time plays many parts, — 
His acts being seven ages. At first, the Infant, 
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. 
Then the whining Schoolboy, with his satchel 
And shining morning face, creeping like snail 
Unwillingly to school. And then the Lover, 
Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad 
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a Soldier, 
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard; 
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, 
Seeking the bubble Reputation 

Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the Justice, 
In fair round belly with good capon lin'd 
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, 
Full of wise saws and modern instances, — 
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts 
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon, 
With spectacle on nose and pouch on side; 
His youthful hose well sav'd, a world too wide 
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, 
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes 
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, 
That ends this strange eventful history, 
Is second childishness and mere oblivion ; 
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans — everything. 

—Act II, Sc. 7. 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES. 185 

Down on your knees, 

And thank Heaven, fasting, for a good man's love. — Act III, Sc. 5. 

Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, 
but not for love. — Act IV, Sc. 1. 

Too much of a good thing. — Act IV, Sc. 1. 

For ever and a day.— Act IV, Sc. 1. 

Men are April when they woo, December when they wed. 

—Act IV, Sc. 1. 

No sooner met, but they looked; no sooner looked, but they loved; 
no sooner loved, but they sighed; no sooner sighed, but they asked 
one another the reason. — Act V, Sc. 2. 

How bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another 
man's eyes. — Act V, Sc. 2. 

Your If the only peacemaker; much virtue in //. — Act V, Sc. 4. 



The Taming of the Shrew. 
There's small choice in rotten apples. — Act I, Sc. 1. 
My cake is dough. — Act V, Sc. 1. 
A woman mov'd is like a fountain troubled, 
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty. — Act V, Sc. 2. 
Such duty as the subject owes the prince, 
Even such a woman oweth to her husband. — Act V, Sc. 2. 



All 's Well That Ends Well. 
The hind that would be mated by the lion 
Must die for love. — Act I, Sc. 1. 
Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie. 
Which we ascribe to heaven. — Act I, Sc. 1. 
He must needs go that the Devil drives. — Act I, Sc. 3. 
From lowest place when virtuous things proceed, 
The place is dignified by the doer's deed. — Act II, Sc. 3. 
The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together. 

—Act IV, Sc. 3. 
Praising what is lost 
Makes the remembrance dear. — Act V, Sc. 3. 
The inaudible and noiseless foot of Time. — Act V, Sc. 3. 



1 86 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



LIBRARIES. 

A great deal might be said on the subject of libraries. 
Their silent but wonderful power extends everywhere. No 
sign of the time is so indicative of the prosperity of the twen- 
tieth century as the growing attention to books. Many cir- 
cumstances, all or one, may prevent every man having a 
library, large or small, in his house, but nothing can justify 
the want of public libraries in state, city, town, or village. 
Wherever there is a population of even two hundred persons, 
there ought to be a library, and in this country, where books 
are so much cheaper than in Europe, there is no excuse for the 
absence of libraries anywhere. A few hundred dollars judi- 
ciously expended each year would maintain each collection. 

What were the first libraries? Assuredly, the inscribed 
bricks and tiles of the Assyrians and Babylonians, which ex- 
plorers have unearthed in the east, literally from the ruins 
of empires. Diodorus Siculus, a Sicilian, who lived only a 
few years before the Christian era, wrote a " Universal His- 
tory," in which the narrative was brought to the time of 
Julius Caesar, his contemporary. Only a portion of this work 
has come down to us, but that portion makes mention of a 
public library formed by the Egyptian monarch, Osymandys, 
who reigned over two thousand years before Christ. On the 
building which contained it was the inscription, " Psyches 
intreion " (the storehouse of medicine of the mind.) This 
motto holds good, now that three thousand years have passed. 

The Alexandrian was the largest, if not the oldest, col- 
lection of books of the ancient world. After the death of 
Alexander the Great, when his vast domains were divided 
among his generals, Ptolemy Soter obtained and made him- 
self master of Egypt. This was B. C. 323. After many years 
of hard fighting, he established himself securely on the throne 



LIBRARIES. 187 

of the Pharaohs, about B. C. 300, and applied himself to the 
encouragement of commerce and learning. He founded the 
great library in the city of Alexandria, placing at its head a 
banished Athenian of high culture, under whose care it ob- 
tained 50,000 rolls or volumes. In succeeding time this num- 
ber was increased to 400,000 — indeed, some accounts say 
700,000. During the siege of Alexandria by Julius Caesar, 
that part of the library containing the literature of Rome, 
Greece, India, and Egypt was destroyed by fire. To a large 
extent this was replaced by the collection of Pergamos (200,- 
000 volumes), which, to the great annoyance of the educated 
Romans, was presented by Mark Antony to Cleopatra. In 
the reign of Theodosius the Great, A. Dl 319, the greatest 
part of this library was burned by a mob of fanatics. There 
is a tradition that this library was destroyed not then, but 

A. D. 642, at the taking of Alexandria by the Arabians under 
the Caliph Omar. 

Peisistratos established the first public library in Athens, 

B. C. 531. In Rome, after the empire was established, several 
wealthy citizens posessed large libraries, which, if not public, 
were so administered as virtually to be on that footing.. 
Several of the emperors established public libraries in Rome. 
At the fall, first of the western and afterward of the eastern 
empire, these books were destroyed or dispersed. 

In what are called the dark ages, most of the books were 
preserved in monasteries throughout Europe, particularly in 
France, Switzerland, and England. In the fourteenth and 
fifteenth centuries there was a great revival of learning, and 
many public libraries were established. The following are the 
most remarkable: 

Nicholas Niccoli, an eminent scholar who* had collected 
a great library, bequeathed it to the city of Florence at his 
death, A. D. 1436, and this was the first public library in 
Italy. It was greatly enlarged in 1580 by a present of Greek, 
Hebrew, Arabic, Chaldee, and Indian MSS. from Cosmo de 
Medici. 



1 88 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

The great Vatican library in Rome was founded in 1446, 
by Pope Nicholas V. It contains about 150,000 volumes and 
40,000 manuscripts. 

The imperial library in Vienna was founded in 1500. 

The most celebrated modern library is the Bibliotheque 
Imperiale of Paris. It was commenced in the middle of the 
fourteenth century with ten volumes, and has been augmented 
by subsequent kings to the enormous number of 3,100,000 
printed volumes, 150,000 manuscripts, 300,000 maps, 300,- 
000 pamphlets, 130,000 engravings, and 150,000 numismatic 
specimens. 

The library of the Escurial in Madrid was founded in 
1557, library of the University of Munich in 1560, Imperial 
Library of St. Petersburg in 1714. 

The great library of Strasburg was burned in the 
Franco-German war of 1870. The foundation of it dates 
from the year 1765, when Daniel Schopflin, author of 
" Aleatia Illustrata " presented the city with his own private 
library, consisting of 10,692 volumes. To this magnificent 
gift he added a large collection of medals and antiquities 
which he collected in Italy. During his life, he never ceased 
to enrich his donation with new additions. Unwearied in his 
efforts to increase the library, he lived long enough to see 
733 volumes added to the number. He died in 1771. The 
value of the library consisted in numerous specimens of early 
printing, but for want of a catalogue, was comparatively 
useless. In 1904 this library contained 700,000 volumes. 

In England, the Bodleian library was opened in 1602, at 
Oxford. The British Museum in London, founded in 1753, 
is now one of the largest and best in the world, containing 
over 2,000,000 volumes, besides tracts, and an immense num- 
ber of manuscripts admirably arranged and catalogued. 

In the number of its libraries, our own country leads the 
world, thus showing the general diffusion of knowledge. 

The library of Harvard College, the first public library 
founded in this country, was established in 1632, and was 
endowed with gifts from Sir Kenelm Digby, Richard Baxter, 
Bishop Berkeley, and many others. These invaluable tomes 



LIBRARIES. 189 

were all consumed by fire in 1764. The library, however, 
was immediately renewed and now contains a vast number 
of volumes. 

The library of Yale College was second in order of date, 
and was actually founded before the college for the use of 
which it was designed; the person who contributed in 1700 
the books which formed its nucleus remarking : " I give these 
books for the founding of a college in this, colony." 

The Library Company of Philadelphia was established in 
1 73 1, by Benjamin Franklin and others. In 1868 a bequest 
of $1,000,000 was made by Dr. James Rush, for the purpose 
of erecting a new building for the reception of the 90,000 
volumes forming the library. In 1904 it numbered about 
200,000. 

The Athenaeum library, Providence, R. I., was begun 
in 1753, and the Society library, New York, in 1754. The 
Mercantile library, New York was founded in 1820. The 
Astor library, New York — a gift to the city from John 
Jacob Astor, who bequeathed $400,000 for the purpose of 
founding and maintaining a public library — was opened in 
1854 with 80,000 volumes, purchased and arranged by its 
superintendent, Joseph G. Cogswell. It numbers now over 
300,000. 

There are many fine and rare works in the Astor library. 
First, and rarest, perhaps, a copy of a work issued from 
Caxton's press, and notable as being the first work ever 
printed in the English language. There is a small and im- 
perfect copy of " Le Fevre's Recuell des Histoires de Troye," 
printed in Cologne in 1471, and which, with its heavy bind- 
ings half an inch in thickness and interleaves of heaviest plate 
paper, is worth its weight in gold; the first printed edition 
of Homer (Florence, 1488), and Pope's translation of 
Homer, original edition, in eleven volumes quarto ; " Morri- 
son's Chinese Dictionary/' the laborious work of a long life- 
time; also a copy of the first complete edition of Shake- 
speare, published in 1623, seven years after the death of the 
author. This copy is invaluable, as there are only two copies 
known to exist. 



I90 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



LACONICS. 

BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT LIBRARIES. 

What a world of wit is here packed together! I know not whether 
the sight doth more dismay or comfort me. — It dismays me to think 
there is so much I cannot know ; it comforts me to think that this 
variety yields so good helps to know what I should. — Blessed be the 
memory of those who have left their blood, their spirits, their lives, 
in these precious books, and have willingly wasted themselves into 
these during monuments, to give light unto others. — Bishop Hall. 

My library was dukedom enough for me. — Shakespeare. 

Libraries are the shrines where all the relics of saints, full of true 
virtue, and that without delusion or imposture, are preserved and re- 
posed. — Bacon. 

Libraries are the wardrobes of literature, whence men, properly in- 
formed, may bring forth something for ornament, much for curiosity, 
and more for use. — Dyer. 

Let us pity those poor rich men who live barrenless in great book- 
less houses ! Let us congratulate the poor that, in our day, books are 
so cheap that a man may every year add a hundred volumes to his 
library for the price of what his tobacco and beer would cost him. 
Among the earliest ambitions to be excited in clerks, workmen, jour- 
neymen, and indeed, among all that are struggling up from nothing to 
something, is that of owning and constantly adding to a library of good 
books. A little library, growing larger every year, is an honorable part 
of a young man's history. It is a man's duty to have books. A library 
is not a luxury, but one of the necessaries of life. — H. W. Beecher. 

A great library contains the diary of the human race. — The grfat 
consulting room of a wise man is a library. — G. Dawson. 

The true university of these days is a collection of books. — Carlyle. 

Consider what you have in the smallest chosen library. A com- 
pany of the wisest and wittiest men that could be picked out of all 
civilized countries, in a thousand years, have set in best order the 
results of their learning and wisdom. The men themselves were hidden 
and inaccessible, solitary, impatient of interruption, fenced by etiquette; 
but the thought which they did not uncover to their bosom friend is 
here written out in transparent words to us, the strangers of another 
age. — Emerson. 



LACONICS. 191 

We enter our studies and enjoy a society which we alone can 
bring together. We raise no jealousy by conversing with one in prefer- 
ence to another : we give no offense to the most illustrious by question- 
ing him as long as we will, and leaving him as abruptly. Diversity of 
opinion raises no tumult in our presence ; each interlocutor stands be- 
fore us, speaks or is silent, and we adjourn or decide the business at 
our leisure. — Landor. 

The student has his Rome, his Florence, his whole glowing Italy, 
within the four walls of his library. He has in his books, the ruins 
of an antique world and the glories of a modern one. — Longfellow. 

The gloomy recess of an ecclesiastical library is likei53 a harbor 
into which a far-travelling curiosity has sailed with its freight, and 
cast anchor. The ponderous tomes are 161 bales of mind's merchandise. 
Odors of distant countries and times steal from red leaves, 177 the 
swelling ridges of vellum, and the titles in tarnished! gold. — Wilmott. 

What laborious days, what watchings by the midnight lamp, what 
rackings of the brain, what hopes and fears, what long lives of labor- 
ious study, are here sublimized into print, and condensed into the nar- 
row compass of these surrounding shelves ! — Horace Smith. 

No possession can surpass, or even equal a good library, to the lover 

of books. Here are treasured up for his daily use and delectation, 

riches which increase by being consumed, and pleasures which never 
cloy. — Langford. 

A large library is apt to distract rather than to instruct the learner; 
it is much better to be confined to a few authors, than to wander at 
random over many. — Seneca. 

What a place to be in is an old library! It seems as though all 
the souls of all the writers that have bequeathed their labors to these 
Bodleians were reposing here, as in some dormitory or middle state. I 
do not want to handle, to profane the leaves, their winding sheets. 177 
I could as soon dislodge a shade. I seem to inhale learning, walking 
amid their foliage ; and the odor of their old moth-scented coverings 
is fragrant as the first bloom of those sciential apples which grew 
amid the happy orchard. — Lamb. 



BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT BOOKS. 

Except a living man, there is nothing more wonderful than a 
book! a message to us from the dead — from human souls we never 
saw, who lived, perhaps, thousands of miles away. And yet, these in 
those little sheets of paper, speak to us, terrify us, arouse us, teach us, 
comfort us, open their hearts to us as brothers. — Charles Kingsley. 

A good book is the very essence of a good man. — His virtues 
survive in it, while the foibles and faults of his actual life are for- 
gotten. — All the goodly company of the excellent and great sit around 



192 BEST THOUGHTS OF B£ST THINKERS. 

my table, or look down on me from yonder shelves, waiting patiently to 
answer my questions and enrich me with their wisdom. — A precious 
book is a foretaste of immortality. — T. L. Cuyler. 

Tradition is but a meteor, which, if it once falls, cannot be re- 
kindled. Memory, once interrupted, is not to be recalled. But written 
learning is^i a fixed luminary, which, after the cloud that had hidden 
it has passed away, is again bright in its proper station. — So books 
are faithful repositories, which may be awhile neglected or forgotten, 
but when opened again, will again impart instruction. — Johnson. 

Books are masters who instruct us without rods or ferules, without 
words or anger, without bread or money. If you approach them they 
are not asleep; if you seek them they do not hide; if you blunder, 
they do not scold; if you are ignorant, they do not laugh at you. 

— Richard de Bury. 

Books are the metempsychosis; the symbol and presage of im- 
mortality. The dead are scattered, and none shall find them; but 
behold, they are here. — Henry Ward Beecher. 

Books are lighthouses erected in the great sea of time. — Whipple. 

A book is the only immortality. — Rufus Choate. 

Books are immortal sons deifying their sires. — Plato. 

God be thanked for books ; they are the voices of the distant and 
the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages. — Channing. 

When I get a little money, I buy books, and if any is left, I buy 
food and clothing. — Erasmus. 

A good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed 
and treasured up on purpose for a life beyondj. — Milton. 

The books that help you most are those that make you think the 
most. — Theodore Parker. 

Books are men of high stature; the only men that speak aloud for 
future time to hear. — Barrett. 

Books are but waste paper, unless we spend in action the wisdom we 
get from thought. — Bulyuer. 



193 



FICTION. 

The best thoughts of best thinkers regarding fiction re- 
quire our consideration of the writers of fiction, and the 
writers about fiction. The subject, therefore, presents itself 
in two very different phases ; the more so because those who 
write about fiction seldom write any fiction. 

Fiction writers are so diverse in their methods that each 
seems to be a law unto himself. In this regard, they are not 
unlike artists, in that there are several schools recognized, 
and even the adherents of any one school differ widely, both 
in their interpretation of its theory, and in their application 
of its principles to practice. " Artists are born and not made " 
implies not only the endowment of genius, but the inability 
of genius to communicate its peculiar form of inspiration to 
others. Each artist developes his own method, and can reach 
his sublime results only in his peculiar way. Neither can 
any other artist work out a theme in just that way, but must 
discover the peculiar method to which he is solely adapted. 

The fiction writers who have become artists in their line 
have experienced the same restrictions in their modes of por- 
traying life, a fact which goes far toward entitling them to 
be classed as also exceptionally gifted. 

It is also a matter of note that fiction is of much more 
recent development than art or music. For the English lan- 
guage, the history of fiction begins with Walter Scott, but 
the conditions which made it possible for him to reach the 
public mind so forcibly through this channel were the result 
of numerous forerunners who taught their creeds or aired 
their political views in the form of story. 

"Euphues," a book written in England (1579) by John 
Lily, was a didactic story, and for a hundred years, that book 
and Sidney's "Arcadia" were the only important produc- 



194 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

tions in English fiction by English authors, and they were but 
mere beginnings. Foreign romances were translated and 
circulated in England, and some of them were imitated in a 
crude way, as in the case of " Jack Wilton " by T. Nash, 
(1594), and "The English Rogue," (1665-71). De Foe's 
"Robinson Crusoe" (1719) and Swift's "Gulliver's Trav- 
els" (1726) opened the door a little wider. Then Addison 
issued the " Spectator," and in his untiring effort to civilize 
the " bourgeoisie/' he made himself felt also in France, to 
the effect that Marivaux established his reputation by issuing 
a sort of French " Spectator " patterned after Addison's. 
On the other hand, Richardson's "Pamela" (1740) is a 
novel bearing close resemblance to Marivaux's " Marianne " 
(1731) ; and so each nation is helping the other to pave the 
way for a fiction that is worthy the name. 

Richardson followed his " Pamela " with " Clarissa Har- 
lowe," (1748), and "Sir Charles Grandison " (1753), in 
all of which he preached virtue and illustrated integrity of 
character among the common people as contrasted with the 
nobles. In 1740 Fielding comes into the literary field, and 
shows himself weary with Richardson's presentation of peo- 
ple as he saw them, instead of as a moralist would say they 
should be. Accordingly, Fielding's " Joseph Andrews " is 
almost a caricature of " Pamela." Then comes Cervantes, 
(1749), with " Tom Jones " and other works in which Span- 
ish influence is plainly discernable. 

Humor and pathos were combined in " Tristram 
Shandy" by Sterne, (1759-67), in which the French idea is 
apparent, following out psychological study with no regard 
for incident. Sterne was pessimistic, and withal, a disturb- 
ing element in the literary world; but in 1766 Goldsmith 
relieved the situation with his optimism so gracefully ex- 
pressed in the " Vicar of Wakefield." Thus the modern 
romantic movement was ushered in, and, with Horace Wal- 
pole and Mrs. Radcliff in England, and Rousseau and Goethe 
from abroad, the way was prepared for the phenomenal ad- 
vancement given to fiction by Sir Walter Scott. To present 



FICTION. 195 

the best thought of thinkers about thinkers, we now quote 
from Thomas Sargent Perry in Appleton's Universal Cyclo- 
pedia : 

" Scoit. — It was Scott who gave the English novel 
world-wide importance. He expressed most vividly the 
patriotic and mediaeval revival of his time; he brought back 
the past and he threw a new light on the present. He vivi- 
fied history, he taught the love of nature, and delighted gen- 
erations with his abundant invention. He made over not 
only the art of novel-writing, but that of writing history. 
In France, we see his influence in Dumas and Victor Hugo, 
and in Germany the historical novel still survives, though 
without proving a dangerous rival to Scott's fame. While 
Scott inspired many followers, the new problems of the nine- 
teenth century called many writers away to their discussion. 
Dickens studied social abuses, and often hid direct practical 
teaching under a mask of raillery. Thackeray drew pictures 
of the new polite society, and his acute observations and gen- 
tie ridicule were miscalled cynicism. Bulwer combined ro- 
manticism and the study of the present with more popularity 
than success. 

" George Sand. — In France, George Sand employed the 
novel as a means of asserting the rights of women, just as in 
England Miss Bronte's Jane Byre touched the subject. Balzac 
made a profound study, half romantic and half real, of the 
motley society he saw about him. A complete view of society 
brought into fiction, notably in the work of George Sand, a 
new class, the country people, whose virtues she set in sharp 
contrast with the vices of those who dwelt in cities. Auer- 
bach did the same service for Germany in his Village Tales. 

"American Novelists. — J. F. Cooper in the U. S., in- 
spired by Scott, had drawn romantic pictures of the red In- 
dian. Hawthorne, with far more literary art and a subtler 
imagination, described New England life in the past and the 
present, and also Italy in The Marble Faun. All his 
pages were lit by the last, and in the estimation of many, 



I96 BEST THOUGHTS 0# BEST THINKERS. 

the most beautiful rays of romanticism, now approaching its 
end. Mrs. H. B. Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, with its vivid 
drawings of the wrongs of slavery, is perhaps more note- 
worthy as a campaign document than as a work of art. 

" Realistic Movement. — Everywhere we find the novel 
something more than a mere piece of literature. It was con- 
tinually employed, and not always consciously, to express the 
writer's emotions and interests, sometimes narrow or special 
in its aim. Again, as in George Eliot's hand, we find life 
criticised in relation to the principles of morality. It is easy 
to observe the gradual change in the method of novel-writing. 
The great wave of romanticism gradually spent its force after 
enriching the world with new sympathies and a larger vision. 
It was succeeded by a tendency toward realism. In England 
the two had long been combined, as in Scott, without an- 
tagonism. Balzac in France alternated between the two, but 
the movement toward an exacter study of life may be ob- 
served in him as well as in his contemporaries. Zola, the 
most important of living French novelists, has advocated 
realism with tireless energy, but he has not been able to escape 
the influences under which he was born, and although he has 
continually struggled to be a faithful disciple as well as 
preacher of realism, his work often contradicts his theories. 
When he is furthest from the' literary theory which he de- 
tests, he is only too prone to substitute the study of repulsive 
details for an exact study of life, and it is in the representa- 
tion of a great picture rather than in the faithful study of 
incidents, that he is greatest. The movement toward realism, 
which owes much to the scientific advance of the present days, 
has also been greatly aided by the example of the eminent 
Russian novelists, TurgeniefT and Tolstoi. The former aided 
the movement for the abolition of serfdom by his Stories of a 
Sportsman, which were followed by longer novels written with 
the utmost art. Tolstoi seemed to abandon all the current 
theories of composition and to portray life unshaped, but 
crowded with event as we see it, never modeling itself into 
a rounded whole. In France, Flaubert, and de Maupassant 



FICTION. I97 

rigidly confined themselves to the portrayal of exact truth, 
and the movement holds sway over the later novelists of the 
U. S., Italy, Spain and Scandinavia. That this is but a tem- 
porary movement is obvious, for every art that grows 
changes, and already among the younger writers there is, an 
effort to give greater sway to the imagination." 

That the subject of fiction as a department of literature 
is one of serious, importance, is evidenced by the large amount 
of space which every public library must set apart for the 
accommodation of such works. Nor is the percentage of 
room required an adequate measure of its relative importance, 
because the number of books drawn from that department 
is far greater in proportion to the number of volumes therein. 
In short, the librarians tell us that on the average, fifty-nine 
per cent, of the books drawn are from the fiction department, 
leaving forty-one per cent. to* be divided among all other 
departments. 

How clear it is, then, that any improvement in the 
quality of fiction is a direct blessing to the reading public. 
It is also pertinent to inquire why fiction has gained such an 
ascendancy over all the other departments of general litera- 
ture. If it be on account of the exciting scenes usually de- 
scribed therein, there must be some element in the mental 
make-up of the people, which echoes a responsive chord. 
Whatever it be in fiction that secures such exceeding popu- 
larity, it is a reflex of the hungry soul, or there would be no 
such craving for that kind of food. Instead of decrying 
novels and tabooing romanticism, fiction should be recognized 
as filling a long-felt want, and therefore it should be the duty 
of reformers to improve and uplift fiction and make it the 
greater power for good, rather than to do violence to the 
common sense of mankind by forbidding the reading of fic- 
tion. That it is subject to abuse is only further evidence that 
it has great use. The best things we have in all departments 
of life are subject to abuse, — usually, the better when rightly 
used, the worse when abused. 



198 BKST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Much good has been done for the reading public by the 
introduction of history into fiction. It is also a standing 
joke on historians that too much of what passes for history 
is fiction. History in fiction is good; fiction in history, 
quite the reverse. Why ? because history in fiction is known 
to be history; but fiction in history is represented as fact, 
and therein lies the evil.* 

It is also true that the writers of historical romance are 
sometimes untrue to* their trust in their representations, of 
the events and customs of the time and place in which the 
scene is laid. But notwithstanding the slight warping of 
facts or coloring of motives indulged for the better setting 
of the romance, the leading truths of history are so artfully 
introduced, and the details of life so aptly interwoven that 
the reader acquires the historical knowledge through vivid 
impressions inwrought by the plot of the romance, the 
romance lending such an interest to the historical scene that 
both are indelibly fixed in the mind. 

Except in the practiced scholar, the heart 372 opens a 
broader' avenue to the mind than does the judgment. The 
knowledge we obtain through the excitement of the feelings 
takes a deeper hold on the soul than what we learn through 
the cold calculations of the intellect. Though the judgment 
is more philosophic, the reason more discriminating, the sensi- 
bilities are ever more actively open to 1 sympathize in all the 
emotions to which the mind is susceptible. Any subject that 
can be clothed with the warm garments of feeling will be 
cordially received by the mind, through thef heart. Even the 
story of the Cross owes its power over the masses to the pas- 
sion therein portrayed. Take away the love of a living 
Savior, and the appeals for sympathy with his undeserved 
sufferings, and how many would make the intellectual con- 
ception of a Vicarious Atonement a sufficient reason for es- 
pousing the holy cause? On the contrary, the lowly Naza- 

*NoTE. — Of course, the reader will see that the word " fiction " in the above 
play upon words, is used in two different senses. History in fiction is history in 
romance, but fiction in history is falsehood in history. This form of fallacy is 
known as Ambiguous Middle, and the argument has no weight, not but what the 
conclusion is true, but because it is not proved by this way of reasoning. (478) 



FICTION. 199 

rene, the forgiveness of enemies, and the whole assemblage 
of traits incorporated into the Divine Character, form such 
an array of emotional concepts, that they reach the heart in 
spite of theological dogma. 

Sacred history may not be called history in fiction, nor 
fiction in history, but it is passion in history, and illustrates 
most aptly the necessary element to give any history a per- 
manent lodgement in the average mind. 

Now, to press our inquiry as to why fiction has gained 
such an ascendancy over all other departments of general 
literature, and to discover what element in fiction satisfies 
the craving of the hungry soul, we have only to view fiction 
in the light of an address to the heart rather than the in- 
tellect, and the riddle is solved. Of course, no reputable 
author wants the cherished offspring of his imagination to 
dwindle into a mere love-story, but divest his work of all that 
pertains to the tender passion, and who will read it? The 
wooing and the winning, the pursuit and the oft uncertain 
possession, are the silken cords that bind together the meshes 
of circumstance enweaved in glowing thoughts and valorous 
deeds. The web and woof of the whole fabric are dependent 
upon love for the golden threads and the brilliant hues that 
mark the pattern fair. And why this passion, when the heart 
is susceptible to so many passions? Envy and revenge, hope 
and despair, joy and sadness, all come in to interest for a 
season, but in the end they are all subordinated to the master 
passion. Each emotion is pictured out in its full strength, 
but its force is eventually spent in the furtherance of the amor- 
ous hero's ends. Even the greed of gold is subjugated, 
because — and herein is the answer to all the questions in- 
volved — A good mem will do\ more for love them he will 
for money! 

Recognizing the source of the power with which fiction 
appeals to the masses, many writers have seized upon this 
weapon as a means of attacking the public in behalf of some 
pet theory or peculiar theology, and as a result, we have many 
story books which are but the vehicle for bringing forward 



200 BEST THOUGHTS OF BKST THINKERS. 

schemes and suggestions to serve the purpose of agitation. 
Religion, sociology, politics, all things, except the strictly 
educational branches, have been aided and abetted by join- 
ing hands with fiction. Many of these efforts have been 
creditable indeed, and have done much good, both in the 
stimulation of thought and in the inculcation of knowledge. 
History was the first to receive the help of fiction, but other 
legitimate (and some not so legitimate) subjects of popular 
interest have followed in its wake, and the result is, on the 
whole, encouraging. Canon Farrar seized the pen of fiction, 
and " Darkness before Dawn " has. blessed the world. "'Quo 
Vadis," though not quite so true to history, is more perfect 
as a romance, and thousands have read and re-read these 
fiction-histories of Christianity and its vital connection with 
the downfall of the Roman Empire, who could never have 
been persuaded to read a dozen pages of such history, if 
divested of its romantic setting. 

For more examples of this and other subjects that have 
donned the cloak of fiction, mention may be made of such 
well-known works as " Looking Backwards," " Caesar's 
Column," " The Wrestler of Phillipi," " A Friend of Caesar," 
" The Kreutzer Sonata," " To Have and to Hold," " My Afri- 
can Farm," "Robert Elsmere," "Seats of the Mighty," "Janice 
Meredith," " Richard Carvel," and a score of others which 
the reader can doubtless recall. Even Humor attacked, by 
means of ridicule, the follies of Knight-Errantry, when Mark 
Twain appears as a " Connecticut Yankee in the Court of 
King Arthur ; " while science finds an able, though erratic 
exponent in Jules Verne. 

Another phase of this question still remains. It is the 
dramatization of history on the one hand, and the dramati- 
zation of fiction on the other. Thus the stage becomes another 
link in the chain that holds fiction captive, and renders it 
subservient to the edification of mankind. 

Not content with Hamlet and the powerful train of 
characters born of the brain of the Stratford bard, playwrit- 
ers have adapted to the stage the efforts of many lesser lights, 



FICTION. 201 

sometimes to the improvement of the work through con- 
densation, — and therein lies a literary proposition that is 
worth our careful notice. The improvement to the work, 
in case it be an improvement, is caused not so much by the 
elaboration and fuller representation of its best parts, as by 
the suppression of the minor details, especially those that 
lead the way from one important scene to another. Many a 
good book contains, say half a dozen first-class episodes, 
filling a hundred pages of the text, but to ge,t this hundred 
pages, the reader must wade through five hundred pages that 
only serve to connect one important event with another. These 
are the parts that are omitted or greatly condensed in dramati- 
zation. If the author himself had abridged the connectives, 
leaving most of the minor incidents to be inferred, how it 
would sparkle! The greatest painters rest their fame largely 
on the same principle. They emphasize the strong points in 
a picture with great care in the details, but elsewhere, much 
is left to the imagination of the beholder. A mere shadow 
suggests the proper filling of a large gap; and so in fiction, 
the main parts can be made to imply most of the connecting 
incidents, to the greater brilliancy of the whole. 



LACONICS. 



BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT FICTION. 

Fiction allures to the severer task by a gayer preface. Embellished 
truths are the illuminated alphabet of larger children. — Willmott. 

I have often maintained that fiction may be much more instructive 
than real history — John Foster. 

Fiction is no longer a mere amusement; but transcendent genius, 
accommodating itself to the character of the age, has seized upon this 
province of literature, and turned fiction from a toy into a mighty 
engine. — Channing. 

The best histories may sometimes be those in which a little of the 
exaggeration of fictitious narrative is judiciously employed. Something 
is lost in accuracy, but much is gained in effect. The fainter lines are 
neglected, but the great characteristic features are imprinted on the mind 
forever. — Macaulay. 

Those who delight in the study of human nature, may improve on 
the knowledge of it, and in the profitable application of it by the perusal 
of the best selected fictions. — Whately. 



202 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



WHAT TO READ IN FICTION. 

The best historical novel — " Ivanhoe." 

The best dramatic novel — " The Count of Monte 

Christo." 

The best domestic novel — " The Vicar of Wakefield." 

The best marine novel — " Mr. Midshipman Easy." 

The best country life novel — " Adam Bede." 

The best military novel — " Charles O'Malley." 

The best religious novel — " Ben Hur." 

The best sporting novel — " Sarchedon." 

The best political novel — " Lothair." 

The best novel written for a purpose — " Uncle Tom's 

Cabin." 

The best imaginative novel — " She." 
The best pathetic novel — " The Old Curiosity Shop." 
The best humorous novel — " The Pickwick Papers." 
The best Irish novel — " Handy Andy." 
The best Scotch novel — " The Heart of Midlothian." 
The best English novel — " Vanity Fair." 
The best American novel — " The Scarlet Letter." 
The best sensational novel — " The Woman in White." 
New York Commercial Advertiser. 






WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES. 203 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES— 3. 

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE- (continued). 

Twelfth Night. 

If music be the food of love, play on; 

Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, 

The appetite may sicken, and so die. 

That strain again ; it had a dying fall : 

O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet south, 

That breathes upon a bank of violets, 

Stealing and giving odor. — Act I, Sc. I. 

I am sure care 's an enemy to life. — Act I, Sc. 3. 

At my finger's ends. — Act I, Sc. 3. 

'T is beauty truly blent, whose red, and white 

Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on. — Act I, Sc. 5. 

But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, 

Feed on her damask cheek : she pined in thought ; 

And, with a green and yellow melancholy, 

She sat, like Patience on a monument, 

Smiling at grief. — Act II, Sc. 4. 

An you had an eye behind you, you might see more detraction at 
your heels than fortunes before you. — Act II, Sc. 5. 

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have great- 
ness thrust upon them. — Act II, Sc. 5. 

Love sought is good, but given unsought is better. — Act III, Sc. I. 

Let there be gall enough in thy ink; though thou write with a 
goose-pen, no matter. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an 
improbable fiction. — Act III, Sc 4. 

As the old hermit of Prague, that never saw pen and ink, very 
wittily said t© a niece of King Gorboduc, That that is, is. — Act IV, Sc. 2. 

The Winter's Tale. 
Daffodils, 
That come before the swallow dares, and take 
The winds of March with beauty; violets, dim, 
But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, 
Or Cytherea's breath.— Act IV, Sc. 3. 



204 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

When you do dance, I wish you 
A wave o' th' sea, that you might ever do 
Nothing but that.— Act IV, Sc. 3. 

King John. 
For courage mounteth with occasion. — Act II, Sc. 1. 

Talks as familiarly of roaring lions, 

As maids of thirteen do of puppy-dogs ! — Act II, Sc. 2. 

Zounds ! I was never so bethumped with words 

Since I first called my brother's father, dad. — Act II, Sc. 2. 

Thou wear a lion's hide! doff it for shame, 

And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs. — Act III, Sc. 1. 

Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, 

Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man. — Act III, Sc. 4. 

Grief fills the room up of my absent child, 

Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me; 

Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words, 

Remembers me of all his gracious parts, 

Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form. — Act III, Sc. 4. 

When Fortune means to men most good, 

She looks upon them with a threatening eye. — Act III, Sc. 4. 

And he that stands upon a slippery place, 

Makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up. — Act III, Sc. 4. 

How now, foolish rheum ! 

To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, 

To throw a perfume on the violet, 

To smooth the ice, or add another hue 

Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light 

To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish, 

Is wasteful and ridiculous excess. — Act IV, Sc. 2. 

And, oftentimes, excusing of a fault 

Doth make the fault the worse by the excuse. — Act IV, Sc. 2. 

We cannot hold mortality's strong hand. — Act IV, Sc. 2. 

I saw a smith with his hammer, thus, 

The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool, 

With open mouth swallowing a tailor's news. — Act IV, Sc. 2. 

How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds 
Makes ill deeds done! — Act IV, Sc. 2. 

This England never did, nor never shall, 

Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror. — Act V, Sc. 7. 

Come the three corners of the world in arms, 

And we shall shock them. Nought shall make us rue, 

If England to itself do rest but true.— Act V, Sc. 7. 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES. 205 

King Richard II. 
O, who can hold a fire in his hand 
By thinking on the frosty Caucasus? 
Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite 
By bare imagination of a feast? 
Or wallow naked in December snow, 
By thinking on fantastic Summer's heat. 
O, no! the apprehension of the good 
Gives but the greater feeling to the worse. 

—Act I, Sc. 3. 

The tongues of dying men, 
Enforce attention like deep harmony. — Act II, Sc. 1. 
Not all the water in the rough rude sea 
Can wash the balm from an anointed king. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

O, call back yesterday, bid time return. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

And nothing can we call our own but death, 

And that small model of the barren earth 

Which serves as paste and cover to our bones. 

For heaven's sake, let us sit upon the ground, 

And tell sad stories of the death of kings. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

Comes at the last, and' with a little pin 

Bores through his castle walls, and — farewell king. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

And my large kingdom for a little grave, 

A little, little grave, an obscure grave. — Act III, Sc. 3. 

Gave 
His body to that pleasant country's earth, 

And his pure soul unto his captain, Christ, / 

Under whose colors he had fought so long. — Act IV, Sc. I. 

As for a camel 
To thread the postern of a needle's eye. — Act V, Sc. 5. 



King Henry IV, Part I. 

In those holy fields 
Over whose acres walked those blessed feet 
Which fourteen hundred years ago were nail'd, 
For our advantage, on the bitter cross. — Act I, Sc. 2. 

I would! that thou and I knew where a commodity of good names 
were to be bought! — Act I, Sc. 2. 

'T is my vocation, Hal ; 't is no sin for a man to labour in his 
vocation. — Act I. Sc. 2. 

He will give the Devil his due. — Act I, Sc. 2. 

There's neither honesty, manhood, nor good fellowship in thee. 

—Act I, Sc. 2. 



206 BEST THOUGHTS OF BKST THINKERS. 

If all the year were playing holidays, 

To sport would be as tedious as to work. — Act I, Sc. 2. 

Fresh as a bridegroom; and his chin, new-reaped, 

Show'd like a stubble land at harvest-home; 

He was perfumed like a milliner, 

And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held 

A pouncet box, which ever and anon 

He gave his nose, and took 't away again. — Act I, Sc. 3. 

The blood' more stirs 
To rouse a lion than to start a hare! — Act I, Sc. 3. 

And telling me, the sovereign'st thing on earth 

Was parmaceti for an inward bruise ; 

And that it was great pity, so it was, 

This villainous saltpetre should be digg'd 

Out of the bowels of the harmless earth, 

Which many a good tall fellow had destroyed 

So cowardly; and, but for these vile guns, 

He would himself have been a soldier. — Act I, Sc. 3. 

I know a trick worth two of that. — Act II, Sc. 1. 

Falstaff sweats to death, 
And lards the lean earth as he walks along. — Act II, Sc. 2. 

Brain him with his lady's fan. — Act II, Sc. 3. 

A plague of all cowards, I say. — Act II* Sc. 4. 

I have pepper'd two of them : two, I am sure, I have paid ; two 
rogues in buckram suits. I tell thee what, Hal, — if I tell thee a lie, 
spit in my face, call me horse. Thou knowest my old ward : here I 
lay, and thus I bore my point. Four rogues in buckram let drive at me. 

—Act II, Sc. 4. 

Give you a reason on compulsion ! If reasons were as plenty as 
blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion. 

—Act II, Sc. 4. 

Glen. I can call spirits from the vasty deep. 

Hot. Why, so can I, or so can any man; 

But will they come when you do call for them? — Act III, Sc. 1. 

O, while you live, tell truth, and shame the Devil. — Act. Ill Sc. 1. 

But, in the way of bargain, mark ye me, 

I'll cavil on the ninth part of a hair. — Act III, Sc. 1. 

To loathe the taste of sweetness, whereof a little 

More than a little is by much too much. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

Company, villainous company, has been the spoil of me. — Act III, 
Sc. 3. 

I saw young Harry, with his beaver on, 
His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly armed, 
Rise from the ground like feather'd Mercury, 



whowhen-where series. 207 

And vaulted with such ease into his seat, 

As if an angel dropp'd down from the clouds, 

To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus, 

And witch the world with noble horsemanship. — Act IV, Sc. 1. 

Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere. — Act V, Sc. 4. 
I could have better spared a better man. — Act V, Sc. 4. 
The better part of valor is discretion. — Act V, Sc. 4. 

King Henry IV., Part II. 
Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news 
Hath but a losing office ; and his tongue 
Sounds ever after as a silent bell, 
Remembered knolling a departed friend. — Act I, Sc. 1. 

He hath eaten me out of house and home. — Act II, Sc. 1. 

Sleep ! O gentle Sleep ! 
Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, 
That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down, 
And steep my senses in forgetfulness? — Act III, Sc. I. 

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. — Act III, Sc. 1. 
I may justly say, with the hook-nosed fellow of Rome, I came, I 
saw and overcame. — Act IV, Sc. 3. 

(Veni, vidi, vici.) 

Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought. — Act IV, Sc. 4. 



King Henry V. 

Consideration, like an angel, came 

And whipp'd th' offending Adam out of him. — Act I, Sc. 1. 

His nose was as sharp as a pen, and 'a babbled of green fields. — 
Act II, Sc. 3. 

Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin 
As self-neglecting. — Act II, Sc. 4. 

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, 

Or close the wall up with our English dfead! 

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man 

As modest stillness and humility; 

But when the blast of war blows in our ears, 

Then imitate the action of the tiger : 

Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood. — Act III, Sc. 1. 

I thought upon one pair of English legs 

Did march three Frenchmen. — Act III, Sc. 6. 

You may as well say that 's a valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast 
on the lip of a lion. — Act III, Sc. 7. 



208 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Every subject's duty is the king's; but every subject's soul is his 

own. — Act IV, Sc. i. 

There is some soul of goodness in things evil, 

Would men observingly distil it out. — Act IV, Sc I. 

But, if it be a sin to covet honour, 

I am the most offending soul alive. — Act IV, Sec. 3. 

There is occasions and causes why and wherefore in all things. — 

Act. V, Sc. 1. 

King Henry VI, Part I. 
Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch, 
Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth, 
Between two horses, which doth bear him best, 
Between two girls, which hath the merriest eye, 
I have, perhaps, some shallow spirit of judgment; 
But in these nice sharp quillets of the law, 
Good faith, I am no wiser than a daw. — Act II, Sc. 4. 
Delays have dangerous ends. — Act III, Sc. 2. 
She's beautiful, and therefore to be woo'd; 
She is a woman, therefore to be won. — Act V, Sc. 3. 

King Henry VI., Part II. 

Could I come near your beauty with my nails, 

I'd set my ten commandments in your face. — Act I, Sc. 3. 

Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep. — Act III, Sc. 1. 

What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted? 

Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just; 

And he but naked, though lock'd up in steel, 

Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm in 
erecting a grammar school : and whereas, before, our forefathers had 
no other books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to 
be used ; and, contrary to the King, his crown, and dignity, thou hast 
built a paper-mill. — Act IV, Sc. 7. 

King Henry VI., Part III. 
How sweet a thing it is to wear a crown, 
Within whose circuit is Elysium, 

And all that poets feign of bliss and joy. — Act I, Sc. 2. 
And many strokes, though with a little axe, 
Hew down and fell the hardest-timber'd oak. — Act II, Sc. 1. 
The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on. — Act II, Sc. 2. 
Things ill-got had ever bad success, 
And happy always was it for that son 
Whose father, for his hoarding, went to hell. — Act II, Sc. 2. 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES. 209 

A little fire is quickly trodden out, 

Which, being suffered, rivers cannot quench. — Act IV, Sc. 8. 

Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind: 

The thief doth fear each bush an officer. — Act V, Sc. 6. 



King Richard III. 
Now is the winter of our discontent 
Made glorious summer by the sun of York, 
And all the clouds that lower'd upon our house 
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. 
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths; 
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments; 
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings, 
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures. 
Grim-visaged war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front. 
And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds 
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries, 
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber, 
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute. 
But I that am not shaped for sportive tricks, 
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass; 
I, that am rudely stamped and want love's majesty 
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph; 
I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion, 
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, 
Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time 
Into this breathing world scarce half made up, 
And that so lamely and unfashionable 
That dogs bark at me as I halt by them, — 
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace, 
Have no delight to pass away the time, 
Unless to see my shadow in the sun. — Act I, Sc. 1. 

The world has grown so bad 
That wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch. — Act I, Sc. 3. 

And thus I clothe my naked villainy 

With old odd ends, stolen out of holy writ, 

And seem a saint, when most I play the Devil. — Act I, Sc. 3. 

So wise so young, they say, do ne'er live long. — Act III, Sc. I. 

Their lips were four red roses on a stalk. — Act IV, Sc. 3. 

An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told. — Act IV, Sc. 4. 

O, coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me! — Act V, Sc. 3. 

My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, 

And every tongue brings in a several tale, 

And every tale condems me for a villain. — Act V, Sc. 3. 

A horse! a horse! My kingdom for a horse! — Act V, Sc. 4. 



2IO BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

King Henry VII. 
'Tis better to be lowly born, 
And range with humble livers in content, 
Than to be perk'd up in a glist'ring grief, 
And wear a golden sorrow. — Act II, Sc. 3. 

Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness! 

This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth 

The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms, 

And bears his blushing honors thick upon him: 

The third day comes a frost, a killing frost; 

And, — when he thinks, good easy man, full surely 

His greatness is a ripening, — nips his root, 

And then he falls, as I do. I have ventured, 

Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders, 

This many summers in a sea of glory, 

But far beyond my depth: my high blown pride 

At length broke under me, and now has left me, 

Weary and old with service, to the mercy 

Of a rude stream that must forever hide me. 

Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye; 

I feel my heart new open'd. O, how wretched 

Is that poor man that hangs on princes favors ! 

There is betwixt that smile we would aspire to, 

That sweet aspect of princes and their ruin, 

More pangs and fears than wars or women have; 

And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer, 

Never to hope again. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

I charge thee, fling away ambition. 
By that sin angels fell. — Act III, Sc. 2. 
Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's, 
Thy God's, and truth's; then if thou fall'st, O Cromwell, 
Thou fall'st a blessed martyr. — Act III, Sc. 2. 
He gave his honours to the world again, 
His blessed part to Heaven, and slept in peace. — Act IV, Sc. 2. 
Men's evil manners live in brass ; their virtues 
We write in water. — Act IV, Sc. 2. 

Troilus and Cressida. 
Welcome ever smiles, 
And farewell goes out sighing. — Act III, Sc. 3. 
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. — Act III, Sc. 3. 
And give to dust that is a little gilt, 
More laud than gilt o'er-dusted. — Act III, Sc. 3. 
And like a dew drop from the lion's mane, 
Be shook to air. — Act III, Sc. 3. 
The end crowns all. — Act IV, Sc. 5. 



WHO-W HEN -WHERE SERIES. 211 

CORIOLANUS. 

His nature is too noble for the world: 

He would not flatter Neptune for his trident, 

Or Jove for his power to thunder. — Act III, Sc. I. 

Chaste as the icicle, 
That's curded by the frost from purest snow, 
And hangs on Dian's temple. — Act V, Sc. 3. 



Titus Andronicus. 
Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge. — Act I, Sc. 2. 
What, man ! more water glideth by the mill 
Than wots the miller of; and easy it is 
Of a cut loaf to steal a shive. — Act II, Sc. 1. 

The eagle suffers little birds to sing. — Act IV, Sc. 4. 



ROMEO AND JUUET. 

The weakest goes to the wall. — Act I, Sc. 2. 

One fire burns out another's burning, 

One pain is lessen'd by another's anguish. — Act I, Sc. 2. 

O, I see, Queen Mab hath been with you. 

She is the fairies' midwife; and she comes 

In shape no bigger than an agate stone 

On the fore-finger of an alderman, 

Drawn with a team of little atomies 

Over men's noses as they lie asleep. — Act I, Sc. 4. 

True, I talk of dreams, 
Which are the children of an idle brain, 
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy. — Act I, Sc. 4. 

Her beauty hangs upon the cheek of night 

Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear. — Act I, Sc. 5. 

He jests at scars, that never felt a wound. 

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks! 

It is the East, and Juliet is the sun ! — Act II, Sc. 2. 

See how she leans her cheek upon her hand! 

O, that I were a glove upon that hand, 

That I might touch that cheek:!— Act II, Sc. 2. 

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? — Act II, Sc. 2. 

What's in a name? that which we call a rose, 

By any other name would smell as sweet. — Act II, Sc. 2. 

For stony limits cannot hold love out. — Act II, Sc. 2. 



Alack! there lies more peril in thine eye, 
Than twenty of their swords. — Act II, Sc. 2. 



212 BEST THOUGHTS OF BBST THINKERS. 

Rom. Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear, 
That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops, — 

Jul. O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon 
That monthly changes in her circl'd orb, 
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable. — Act II, Sc. 2. 
How silver sweet sound lover's tongues by night. — Act II, Sc. 2. 

Good night, good night: parting is such sweet sorrow, 
That I shall say good night till it be morrow. — Act II, Sc. 2. 

O, mickle is the powerful grace, that lies 

In plants, herbs, stones, and their true qualities: 

For naught so vile that on the earth doth live, 

But to the earth some special good doth give; 

Nor aught so good, but, strained from that fair use, 

Revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse : 

Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied, 

And vice sometimes 's by action dignified. — Act II, Sc. 3. 

Rom. Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much. 
Mer. No, 't is not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church 
door; but 't is enough. — Act III, Sc. 1. 

Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy. — Act III, Sc. 3. 

Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day 

Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain-tops. — Act III, Sc. 5. 



Timon of Athens. 
I'll example you with thievery: 
The sun's a thief, and with his great attraction 
Robs the vast sea : the moon 's an arrant thief, 
And her pale fire she snatches from the sun : 
The sea 's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves 
The moon into salt tears; the earth 's a thief, 
That feeds and breeds, by a composture stolen 
From general excrement: each thing 's a thief. — Act IV, Sc. 3. 



ARCHITECTURE OF EXPRESSION. 213 



ARCHITECTURE OF EXPRESSION. 

In a previous article under this caption, we treated of 
Clearness, as dependent upon the proper use of pronouns. We 
now offer a few specimens of ambiguity, or the*want of clear- 
ness, resulting from what the French call Squinting Con- 
struction. Where a modifying word or clause is used, it is 
important to avoid placing it between two others in such a way 
that it might be taken to modify, with equal propriety, that 
which goes before it, or that which comes after it. A clause 
so placed is said to look both ways, or squint. 

For example : " This monument was erected to the 
memory of John Smith, who was shot as a mark of affection 
by his brother." 

This kind of error is so easily avoided that one would 
hardly expect to find it in the works of standard authors, yet, 
Lord Lytton says, in " King Arthur," " It shames man not 
to feel man's human fear." The adverb "not" squints; and 
the more you read the sentence, the more you don't know. 
Construed in one way, it means, " It shames not man to feel 
man's human fear," which is a good sentiment and an im- 
portant truth. Construed the other way, it means, " It shames 
man to feel not man's human fear," which is just as true and 
just as important ; for a man who " feels not man's human 
fear" (of God) should be ashamed. 

Now, if one of these meanings were ridiculous., or un- 
important, or inconsistent with some other views contigu- 
ously expressed, we should easily exclude that one; but when 
both are eloquent expressions, each of a different truth ; both 
forcible, and each as likely as the other to be the intended 
meaning, why, the longer we study them, the harder it is to 
decide. 



214 BSST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Take another: 

" You're wounded ! — " Nay," his soldier pride 
Touched to the quick, he said, 
" I'm killed, sire," and his chief beside 
The smiling boy fell dead. 

— Browning. 

In this stanza, it is impossible to> tell whether the chief 
fell dead beside the boy, or the boy fell dead beside the chief. 

Another : " Though some of the European rulers may 
be females, when spoken of altogether, they may be correctly 
classified under the denomination, kings." — Alford. 

Another from the same author : " When I hear a per- 
son use a queer, expression, or pronounce a name in reading 
differently from his neighbors, it always goes, down, in my 
estimate of him, with a. ruinous sign before it." 

The poor little beggar longed for some fruit, and after 
searching from one end of the market to> the other, for a 
penny, at length, bought an apple. 

Tell him, if he is in the parlor, I do not care to see him. 

Say to him, if he is in the wrong, he should retrace his 
steps. 

Yet we fancy that Franklin, the philosopher, in small 
things as well as great, rejoiced in his heart when house- 
cleaning day came. 

" Are these designs which any man, who is born a 
Briton, in any circumstances, ought to be ashamed to avow?" 

The reader can easily see in these cases where the itali- 
cised words should be placed to remove the ambiguity. There 
are some words and phrases which cause ambiguity, not from 
their position, but from variation in meaning. The following 
quotations from various authors, and some from authors about 
authors, are submitted for what they are worth, additional 
comment being, in most cases, unnecessary : 



ARCHITECTURE OF EXPRESSION. 215 

"I had like to have got one or two broken heads for my imper- 
tinence. — Swift. 

" We referred to that committee matter at the American Institute 
in a half-serious, half-truthful way." — New England Journal of Education. 

" That puzzles us. Is the half-truthful the same half as the half- 
serious, or is it the other half? If it is the same half, what is the 
other half, and how many halves are there to that?" — School Bulletin. 

" Monthly school reports must be handed in on Wednesday of each 
week to insure their publication." 

" I follow fate, which does too fast pursue." — Dryden. To follow 
and pursue, they must both be behind! 

" This extraordinary man left no children except his brother, who 
was killed at the same time." — Memoirs of Robespierre. 

" He knew a man who, overcome by heat, lay six weeks speechless 
in the month of August, and all his cry was ' water ' : " 

— Quoted by Scheie de Vere. 

" Such was the end of Murat at the premature age of forty-eight. 

— Allison. 

A Mr. Crispin of Oxford announced that he sold "boots and shoes 
made by celebrated Hoby, London." Mr. Hoby, irate, put into the Ox- 
ford paper, " The boots and shoes Mr. Crispin says he sells of my make 
is a lie." 

" Of course, every one will be there, and for the edification of those 
who are absent, a full report will be found in our next paper." — Express. 

"Those who recommend the exclusive employment of either the 
simpler or the more complex words of our rich English, both err." 

— Popular Grammar. 

" To Millers — To be let, a windmill, containing three pairs of 
stones, a bakehouse, corn shop, and about five acres of land, dwelling 
house and garden." — Times. 

On a bridge at Athens, Ga., is the following : " Any person driv- 
ing over this bridge in a faster pace than a walk shall, if a white person, 
be fined $5.00, and if a negro, receive twenty-five lashes, half the penalty 
to be bestowed on the informer." 

" The applause at the end of the scene was unanimous, having been 
heard in various parts of the house; there were few hisses." — Herald. 

"A deaf man named Taff was run down by a passenger train and 
killed Wednesday morning. He was injured in a similar way about 
a year ago. — New Jersey Journal. 

"I hope, my lord, if you ever come within a mile of my house, you 
will stay there all night."— Sir Boyle Roche to a friend. 

"Each prayed for the other rather than for themselves, — Gasket!. 



2l6 BSST THOUGHTS OF B^ST THINKERS. 

It has doubtless been noted that many of these ambiguous 
expressions contain some form of 

HUMOR. 

The reader will kindly refer to the article on " The Phil- 
osophy of Expression/' for a concise treatment of the essen- 
tial elements of humor,, and the distinction between humor 
and wit. The philosophy of wit is a serious problem. It is 
fun in earnest. 

As a further elucidation of the humorous effect of squint- 
ing* construction, and other forms of ambiguity, we quote 
from " English as She is Wrote," by D. Appleton & Co. 
They show some of the curious ways in which the English 
language may be made to convey ideas or obscure them. 
These samples are all vouched for by the authors as actual 
occurrences, and in no case intended to be humorous ; , the 
humorous effect being heightened thereby. 

ENGLISH AS SHE IS WROTE BY THE INACCURATE. 

A bill presented to a farmer ran thus : " To hanging two barn doors 
and myself, 4s, 6d." 

A Western paper says : " The procession was very fine, and nearly two 
miles long, as was also the report of Dr. Perry, the chaplain." 

"I saw a man digging a well with a Roman nose." 

" I perceived that it had been scoured with half an eye." 

A sea-captain assures us that " his vessel was beautifully painted 
with a tall mast." 

A storekeeper says, " the longest time and easiest terms are given 
by any other house in the city." 

In an account of travels, we are assured that " a pearl was found 
by a sailor in a shell." 

Here is a curious evidence of philanthropy : " A wealthy gentleman 
will adopt a little boy with a small family." 

A parochial report states that " the town farm-house and almshouse 
have been carried on the past year to our reasonable satisfaction, espec- 
ially the almshouse, at which there have been an unusual amount of 
sickness, and three deaths." 

A Kansas paper thus ends a marriage notice: "The couple left for 
the East on the night train, where they will reside." 

"A man from Africa called to pay his compliments tall and dark 
complexioned." 



ARCHITECTURE OF EXPRESSION. 21 7 

The following notice appeared on the west end of a country meet- 
inghouse : " Anybody sticking bills against this church will be prosecuted 
according to law or any other nuisance." 

A gushing ungrammatical editor says : " We have received a basket 

of fine grapes from our friend , for which he will please accept 

our compliments, some of which are an inch long." 

On the panel under the letter receiver at the General Post-Office at 
Dublin, these words are printed : " Post here letters too late for the next 
mail." 

A lady desired to communicate by telegraph to her husband in the 
city the size of an illuminated text which she had promised for the 
Sunday-school room. When the order reached him, it read. " Unto us 
a child is born, nine feet long by two feet wide." 

A dealer in engravings announced, " Scotland Forever. A Cavalry 
Charge after Elizabeth Thompson Butler, just published." 

A Coroner's verdict reads thus, a The deceased came to his death 
by excessive drinking, producing apoplexy in the minds of the jury." 

A farmer who wished to enter some of his live-stock at an agricul- 
tural exhibition, in the innocence of his heart, but with more truth than 
he dreamed of, wrote to the committee, saying, " Enter me for one 
jackass." 

A Western paper says that "a fine new school-house has just been 
finished in that town capable of accommodating three hundred students 
four stories high." 

A member of a school committee writes, " We have two school-rooms 
sufficiently large to accommodate three hundred pupils one above the 
other." 

A clergyman writes, " A young woman died in my neighborhood 
yesterday while I was preaching the gospel in a beastly state of intoxi- 
cation." 

An old edition of Morse's Geography declares that, " Albany has 
four hundred dwelling-houses and twenty-four hundred inhabitants, all 
standing with their gable-ends to the street." 

A newspaper gives an account of a man who "was driving an old 
ox when he became angry and kicked him, hitting his jaw-bone with such 
force as to break his leg." " We have been fairly wild ever since we 
read the paper," writes a contemporary, " to know who or which got 
angry at whom or what, and if the ox kicked the man's jaw with such 
force as to break the ox's leg, or how it is. Or did the man kick the ox 
in the jawbone with such force as to break the ox's leg, and, if so, which 
leg? It's one of those things which no man can find out, save only the 
man who was kicked, or was being kicked, as the case may be." 

A mayor in a university town issued the following proclamation: 
"Whereas a Multiplicity of Dangers are often incurred by Damage of 
outrageous Accidents by Fire, we whose names are undersigned have 
thought proper that the Benefit of an Engine bought by us for the better 



2l8 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

extinguishing of which by the Accidents of Almighty God may unto us 
happen to make a Rate togather Benevolence for the better propagating 
such useful instruments." 

The following is a pattern piece of modern style, sanctioned by an 
English Board of Trade, and drawn up by an eminent authority : " Tickets 
are nipped at the Barriers, and passengers admitted to the platforms will 
have to be delivered up to the Company in event of the holders subse- 
quently retiring from the platforms without travelling, and cannot be 
recognized for readmission." 

A College professor, describing the effect of wind in some western 
forest, wrote, " In travelling along the road, I even sometimes found 
the logs bound and twisted together to such an extent that a mule 
couldn't climb over them, so I went round." 

BY ADVERTISERS ON SIGN-BOARDS. 

Wanted, A young man to take charge of a horse of a religious turn 
of mind. 

A large Spanish blue gentleman's cloak lost in the neighborhood of 
the market. 

A lady advertises her desire for a husband " with a roman nose 
having strong religious tendencies." 

Wanted, a young man to look after a horse of the Methodist per- 
suasion. 

In the far west, a man advertises for a woman " to wash, iron and 
milk one or two cows." 

" Lost, a cameo brooch representing Venus and Adonis on the Drum- 
condra Road afcout 10 o'clock Tuesday evening." 

An inducement to return property is offered as follows: "If the 
gentleman who keeps the shoe store with a red head will return the 
umbrella of a young lady with whalebone ribs and an iron handle to the 
slate-roofed grocer's shop, he will hear of something to his advantage, 
as the same is a gift of a deceased mother now no more with the name 
engraved upon it." 

A photographer's sign reads: "This style three pictures finished in 
fifteen minutes while you wait for twenty-five cents beautifully colored" 

A baker displays this sign : " Family Baking Done Here." The 
sign would look more appropriate if it were in front of some of our 
"cool and well- ventilated ' summer-resort hotels. 

The following notice appeared on the fence of a vacant lot in 
Brooklyn : " All persons are forbidden to throw ashes on this lot under 
penalty of the law or any other garbage." 

Notice in a Hoboken ferry-boat : " The seats in this cabin are re- 
served for ladies. Gentlemen are requested not to occupy them till the 
ladies are seated." 



ARCHITECTURE OF EXPRESSION. 219 

FOR EPITAPHS. 

A terse account of an untimely end is given upon a stone in a 
Mexican church-yard : 

" He was young, ne was fair 
But the Injuns raised his hair." 

This brief announcement may be read in a church-yard in Wrexham, 
Wales : 

"Here lies five babies and children dear 
Three at Owestry and two here." 

Upon the tomb of a boy who died of eating too much fruit, this 
quaint epitaph conveys a moral : 

" Currants have checked the current of my blood, 

And berries brought me to be buried! here ; 

Pears have par'd off my body's hardihood, 

And plums and plumbers spare not one so spare. 

Fain would I feign my fall ; so fair a fare 

Lessens not hate, yet 'tis a lesson good. 

Gilt will not long hide guilt, such thin washed ware 

Wears quickly, and its rude touch soon is rued 

Grave on my grave some sentence grave and terse, 

That lies not as it lies upon my clay, 

But in a gentle strain of unstrained verse, 

Prays all to pity a poor patty's prey, 

Rehearses I was fruitful to my hearse, 

Tells that my days are told, and soon I'm toll'd away." 

In Glasgow Cathedral is an epitaph, which is engraved on the lid 
of a very old sarcophagus, discovered in the crypt : 

"Our life's the flying Shadow, God's the Pole, 
The Index pointing at him is our Soul, 
Death's the Horizon, when our Sun is set, 
Which all through Chryst a Resurrection get." 

In a graveyard in Montrose, in Scotland, this inscription may still 
be seen: 

"Here lies the body of 

George Young 
And of all his posterity for 
fifty years backwards." 

There is an unqualified Hibernianism in the following: 

" Here lies the remains of 
Thomas Maelstrom who died 
in Philadelphia March 17th 
Had he lived he would have been buried here." 



220 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

To the victim of an accident: 

" Here lies the body of James Hambrick which was accidentally shot 
in the Pacas river by a young man with one of Colts large revolvers 
with no stopper for the hand to rest on. It was one of the old fashioned 
sort brass mounted and of such is the Kingdom of Heaven." 

Upon a tombstone in Pennsylvania : 
"Battle of Shiloh. 
April 6 1862 
John D L was born March 26 1839 * n the town of West 
Dresden State of New York where the wicked cease from 
troubling and the weary are at rest." 

A tombstone in Pittsfield, Mass., has these lines: 
" When you my friends are passing by, 
And this inform you where I lie, 
Remember you ere long must have, 
Like me, a mansion in the grave, 
Also 3 infants, 2 sons and a daughter." 

An instance of how rhyming difficulties may be overcome is as 
follows : 

" Here lies the remains of Thomas Woodhen, 
The most amiable of husbands and excellent men. 
N. B. His real name was Woodcock, but it would't come in rhyme. 

— His Widow. 

Another from Manchester: 

" Here lies alas ! more's the pity, 
All that remains of Nicholas Newcity. 
N. B. — His name was Newtown." 

From the Philadelphia Ledger, on a man 51 years old: 
" He heard the angels calling him 

From that celestial shore; 
He flopped his wings, and away he went, 

To make one angel more." 



ARCHITECTURE OE EXPRESSION. 221 

BY CORRESPONDENTS. 

From an Indian school-boy: 

" Benevolent Sir: The wolf of sickness has laid hold on the flock 
of my health." 

From a butcher at Berhampoor, India, to a customer: 

"To his Highness Kid Esquire 

"The humble butcher, Nows Rouny, Respectfully sheweth that for 
your honor has sent a good beef, i rump and please to take it and pay 
day labor of bearer cooly. As your obedient butcher shall ever pray. 

The following is a sample of clearness clarified: 

Dear Mr. Editor: 

" The hystoric apple that tossed about and struck Sir Isaac 
Newton landed finally, in revealing its inner nature its hidden meaning, 
not only as a consolation but also of universal utility in all scientific 
branges : 

"Or out of simbols of the ancient World, up to the real discoveries 
of the present time proceeded the solution of the relation of the Eternal 
time, motion and distance. Which set forte the discovery of the genera- 
tional cosmological Parents of this planet, are discovered that these can 
be seen by all mankind. 

" Resp." 

The reader will find many more letters, some worse, (or better) than 
those we have quoted, in Appleton's " English as She is Wrote." 



BY THE EFFUSIVE. 



Professor Huxley is credited with the assertion that the primrose is 
" a corollifloral dicotyledonous exogen, with a monopetalous corolla and 
a central placenta." 

A scientific writer defines sneezing as, " a phenomenon provoked 
either by an excitation brought to bear on the nasal membrane or by a 
sudden shock of the sun's rays on the membrane of the eye. This 
peripheral irritation is transmitted by the trifacial nerve to the Gasserian 
ganglion, whence it passes by a commissure to an agglomeration of 
globules in the medulla oblongata or in the protuberance : from this point, 
by a series of reflex and complicated acts, it is transformed by the me- 
diation of the spinal cord into a centrifugal excitation which radiates 
outwards by means of the spinal nerves to the expiratory muscles." 

For further examples of scientific effusiveness in its relation to humor, 
see the article on "The Philosophy of Expression." Also, see "English 
as She is Wrote" for more of the effusive style, including one sentence 
containing eight hundred words — the longest sentence ever written. 



222 B£ST THOUGHTS OF BE)ST THINKERS. 

HOW SHE CAN BE ODDLY WROTE. 
Here is a rhyme that emphasizes the peculiarities of the English 
language in the conjugation of irregular verbs: 

" Sally Salter, she was a young teacher that taught, 

And her friend Charley Church was a preacher -who praught ; 

Though his friends all declared him a screecher who scraught. 

His heart, when he saw her, kept sinking and sunk, 

And his eyes, meeting hers, kept winking, and wunk, 

While she, in her turn, fell to thinking, and thunk. 

He hastened to woo her, and sweetly he wooed, 

For his love for her grew — to a mountain it grewed, 

And what he was longing to do, then he doed. 

In secret he wanted to speak, and he spoke, 

To seek with his lips what his heart had long soke, 

So he managed to let the truth leak, and it loke. 

He asked her to ride to the church, and they rode; 

They so sweetly did glide that they both thought they glode, 

And they came to the place to be tied and were tode. 

Then "Homeward" he said "let us drive," and they drove, 

And as soon as they wished to arrive, they arrove; 

For whatever he couldn't contrive, she controve. 

The kiss he was dying to steal, then he stole, 

At the feet where he wanted to kneel, there he knole, 

And he said, " I feel better than ever I fole." 

So they to each other kept clinging and clung, 

While time his swift circuit was winging, and wung. 

And this was the thing he was bringing, and brung: 

The man Sally wanted to catch, and had caught — 

That she wanted from others to snatch, and had snaught, 

Was the one that she now liked to scratch, and she scraught. 

And Charley's warm love began freezing, and froze, 

While he took to teasing and cruelly toze 

The girl he had wished to be squeezing, and squoze. 

" Wretch !" he cried, when she threatened] to leave him, and left, 

"How could you deceive me, as you have deceft?" 

And she answered "I promised to cleave, and I've cleft I" 

Next, we give a zoological romance, by C. F. Adams, inspired, no 
doubt, by an unusual flow of animal spirits : 

No sweeter girl ewe ever gnu 
Than Betty Martin's daughter Sue. 
With sable hare, small tapir waist 
And lips you'd gopher miles to taste; 
Ape pretty lass it was avowed, 
Of whom her marmot to be proud, 
Bright, lambent eyes, like a gazelle, 
Sheep pertly brought to bear so well; 



ARCHITECTURE Oi> EXPRESSION. 223 

Deer girl ! I loved her as my life, 
And vowed to heifer for my wife. 
Alas ! a sailor on the sly, 
Had cast on her his wether eye. 
He said my love for her was bosh, 
And my affections I musquash. 
He'd dog her footsteps every where 
Anteater in the easy chair; 
He'd setter round, this sailor chap, 
And pointer out upon the map 
Where once a pirate cruiser boar 
Him captive to a foreign shore. 
The cruel captain far outdid 
The yaks and crimes of Robert Kidd. 
He oft would whale Jack with the cat, 
And say, " My buck, doe ewe like that ? 
"What makes you stag around so, say? 
The catamounts to something, hey?" 
Then he would seal it with an oath, 
And say, " You are a lazy sloth ! 
I'll starve you down, my sailor fine, 
Until for beef and porcupine !" 
And fairly horse with fiendish laughter, 
Would say, "Henceforth, mind what giraffe ter!" 
In short the many risks he ran 
Might well a llama braver man ; 
Then he was wrecked and castor shore 
While feebly clinging to anoa ; 
Hyena cleft among the rocks 
He crept, sans shoes and minus ox. 
And when he fain would go to bed, 
He had to lion leaves instead. 
Then Sue would say, with troubled face, 
"How koodoo live in such a place?" 
And straightway into tears would melt, 
And say, " How badger must have felt !" 
While he, the brute, woodchuck her chin, 
And say "Aye-aye, my lass!" and grin. 
******* 

Excuse these steers * * * Jt' s over now; 

There's naught like grief the hart can cow. 

Jackass'd her to be his, and she — 

She gave Jackal and jilted me. 

And now, alas ! the little minks 

Is bound to him with Hymen's lynx. 

Detroit Free Press. 



224 BE ^ ST THOUGHTS Ot BEST THINKERS. 

While upon the subject of puns, 273 we quote from the 
Graphic : 

" On being consulted about it Spikes says that Uncle Sam auntici- 
pates the transfer of the Indian Bureau to some mother department, and 
if this should father improve the condition of the children of the forest, 
in sondry ways, by cousin them to be more comfortable, it would be a 
niece arrangement and daughter be maid." We are inclined in nephew 
instances to agree with the gramma, but not with the spelling. 

From the " Graphic " we also obtain the following 
Russian stanza, found in a room that had been occupied by 
Alexis when in this country : 

" Owata jollitimiv ad 
Sinci tookleveov mioldad ! 
Owata mericociv bin — 
Ivespenta nawful pilovtin! 
Damsorri tolevami now, 
But landigoshenjingo vow, 
Thetur kishwar mustavastop 
Gotele graphitorr* topop." 

Of course, there are many kinds of humor not dependent 
upon any peculiarity of grammatical or rhetorical expression. 
Further treatment of wit and humor will be given in a sep- 
arate chapter, when considering the best thoughts of the best 
thinkers, among humorous writers. Also, jokes will be found 
scattered here and there throughout the volume, to be met 
with unexpectedly, and, like the plums in a pudding, the 
sweeter because a little uncertain as to just where they will be 
found. Arranged in this way, they come upon us as an 
agreeable surprise, — the very element which gives them 
vivacity — but great care is required not to jar the feelings 
by a sudden transition from the sublime to< the ridiculous, 
even when the subject matter is strictly pertinent. 

It is also to be noted that a joke is doubly enjoyed by 
one who can analyze and classify it in a literary way; be- 
cause, in addition to the fun it contains, he can give its brill- 
iant fancy a setting of fact in the understanding. He is 
situated like the thorough scholar who enjoys good music, not 
only through the sense of hearing, but by understanding the 
laws of harmony involved in its composition, and also the 
laws of physics, as involved in the mathematical relations of 
its chords. 



who-when-wherE series. 225 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES— 4. 

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (Continued.) 

Julius Caesar. 

Yond' Cassius has a lean and hungry look; 

He thinks too much : such men are dangerous. — Act I, Sc. 2. 

Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort, 

As if he mocked himself, and scorn'd his spirit, 

That could be moved to smile at anything. — Act I, Sc. 2. 

Cowards die many times before their deaths; 

The valiant never taste of death but once. — Act II, Sc. 2. 

Cry " Havoc !" and let slip the dogs of war. — Act III, Sc. 1. 

judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts, 
And men have lost their reason. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

But yesterday, the word of Caesar might 

Have stood against the world : now lies he there, 

And none so poor to do him reverence. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

1 come not, friends, to steal away your hearts : 
I am no orator, as Brutus is. 

***** I only speak right on. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon, 
Than such a Roman. — Act IV, Sc. 3. 

A friend should bear his friend's infirmities, 

But Brutus makes mine greater than they are. — Act IV, Sc. 3. 

There is a tide in the affairs of men, 

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; 

Omitted, all the voyage of their life 

Is bound in shallows, and in miseries. — Act IV, Sc. 3. 

His life was gentle; and the elements 

So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up 

And say to all the world, " This was a man." — Act V, Sc. 5. 

Macbeth. 

Come what come may, 
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day. — Act I, Sc. 3. 



126 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people. — Act I, Sc. 7. 

I dare do all that may become a man; 
Who dares do more, is none. — Act I, Sc. 7. 

Macb. If we should fail, — 

Lady M. We fail ! 

But screw your courage to the sticking-place, 
And we'll not fail.— Act I, Sc. 7. 

Thou sure and firm-set earth, 
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear 
Thy very stones prate of my whereabouts. — Act II, Sc. I. 

Methought, I heard a voice cry, " Sleep no more ! 
Macbeth does murder sleep," the innocent sleep ; 
Sleep, that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care, 
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, 
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, 
Chief nourisher in life's feast. — Act II, Sc. 1. 

The labor we delight in physics pain. — Act II, Sc. 1. 

Stand not upon the order of your going, 
But go at once. — Act III, Sc. 4. 

Double, double toil and trouble. — Act IV, Sc. 1. 

I'll make assurance doubly sure, 
And take a bond of Fate.— Act IV, Sc. 1. 

What ! What ! will the line stretch out to the crack of doom? 
-Act IV, Sc. 1. 

When our actions do not, 
Our fears do make us traitors. — Act IV, Sc. 2. 

Doct. Not so sick, my lord, 

As she is troubled with thick-coming fancies, 
That keep her from her rest. 

Macb. Cure her of that: 

Canst thou not minister to a mind; diseased, 
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, 
Raze out the written troubles of the brain, 
And with some sweet oblivious antidote 
Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff, 
Which weighs upon the heart? 

Doct. Therein the patient 

Must minister to himself. 

Macb. Throw physic to the dogs ; I'll none of it. — Act V, Sc. 3. 



I would applaud thee to the very echo, 
That should applaud again. — Act V, Sc. 3. 



who-when-whkrE series. 227 

Hamuct. 

Some say, that ever against that season comes 

Wherein our Savior's birth is celebrated, 

The bird of dawning singeth all night long: 

And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad; 

The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, 

No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, 

So hallowed and so gracious is the time. — Act I, Sc. I. 

The morn in russet mantle clad, 

Walks o'er the dew of yonder eastern hill. — Act I, Sc. 1. 

O, that this too, too solid flesh would melt, 

Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew ; 

Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd 

His canon 'gainst self-slaughter. O God ! O God ! 

How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable 

Seem to me all the uses of this world. — Act I, Sc. 2. 

Frailty, thy name is woman ! — Act I, Sc. 2. 

Like Niobe, all tears. — Act I, Sc. 2. 

Season your admiration for awhile. — Act I, Sc 2. 

Do not as some ungracious pastors do, 
Show me the steep and thorny way to Heaven, 
Whilst, like a pufFd and reckless libertine, 
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, 
And recks not his own rede. — Act I, Sc. 3. 

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar : 

The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, 

Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel. — Act I, Sc. 3. 

Beware 
Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in, 
Bear 't that the opposed may beware of thee. 
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice ; 
Take each man's censure; but reserve thy judgment. 
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, 
But not expressed in fancy ; rich, not gaudy : 
For the apparel oft proclaims the man. — Act I, Sc. 3. 

Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence. — Act I, Sc. 3. 

But to my mind, — though I am native here, 

And to the manner born, — it is a custom 

More honour'd in the breach than the observance. — Act I, Sc. 4. 

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. — Act I, Sc. 4» 

I am thy father's spirit : 
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night, 
And for the day confin'd to fast in fires, 
Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature, 



228 BKST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid 

To tell the secrets of my prison-house, 

I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word 

Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, 

Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, 

Thy knotted and combined locks to part, 

And each particular hair to stand on end, 

Like quills upon the fretful porcupine : 

But this eternal blazon must not be 

To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O list !— Act I, Sc. 5. 

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, 
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. — Act I, Sc. 5. 

Brevity is the soul of wit. — Act II, Sc. 2. 

That he is mad, 't is true : 't is true 't is pity, 
And pity 't is 't is true. — Act II, Sc 2. 

Doubt thou the stars are fire, 

Doubt that the sun doth move; 

Doubt truth to be a liar, 

But never doubt I love. 

—Act II, Sc. 2. 

Though this be madness, yet there's method in it. — Act II, Sc. 2. 

There is nothing either good* or bad, but thinking makes it so. — Act 
II, Sc. 2. 

This goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this 
most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firma- 
ment, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other 
thing to me, than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors. What a 
piece of work is man ! How noble in reason ! How infinite in faculties ! 
in form and moving, how express and admirable ! in action, how like an 
angel ! in apprehension, how like a god ! — Act II, Sc. 2. 

Use every man after his desert, and who should escape whipping? — 
Act II, Sc. 2. 

With devotion's visage, 
And pious action, we do sugar o'er 
The Devil himself.— Act III, Sc. 1. 

To be, or not to be; that is the question: — 
Whether 't is nobler in the mind to suffer 
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune ; 
Or take arms against a sea of troubles, 
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep, — 
No more : and, by a sleep, to say we end 
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks 
That flesh is heir to, — 't is a consummation 
Devoutly to be wished. To die, — to sleep : — 
To sleep! perchance, to dream: ay there's the rub; 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES. 229 

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come 

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, 

Must give us pause. There's the respect 

That makes calamity of so long life : 

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, 

The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay, 

The insolence of office, and the spurns 

That patient merit of the unworthy takes, 

When he himself might his quietus make 

With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear 

To grunt and sweat under a weary life, 

But that the dread of something after death, — 

The undiscovered country, from whose bourne 

No traveller returns, — puzzles the will, 

And makes us rather bear those ills we have, 

Than fly to others that we know not of? 

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; 

And thus the native hue of resolution 

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought; 

And enterprises of great pith and moment, 

With this regard their currents turn awry, 

And lose the name of action. — Act III, Sc. I. 

Rich gifts wax poor, when givers prove unkind. — Act III, Sc. I. 

Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape 
calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, go. — Act III, Sc. I. 

The glass of fashion, the mould of form, 

The observed of all observers. — Act III, Sc. i. 

Nor do not saw the air too much with your hands, thus ; but use all 
gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and (as I may say) the whirl- 
wind of passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give 
it smoothness. O, it offends me to the soul, to hear a robustious, peri- 
wig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears 
of the groundlings ; who, for the most part, are capable of nothing but 
inexplicable dumb shews, and noise ; I would have such a fellow whipp'd 
for o'erdoing Termagant; it out-Herods Herod. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special 
observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

To hold, as 't were, the mirror up to nature. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

Though it make the unskilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious 
grieve. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

I have thought some of Nature's journeymen had made men, and not 
made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

'T is as easy as lying. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

Pluck out the heart of my mystery. — Act III, Sc. 2. 



230 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

And let me wring your heart: for so I shall, 
If it be made of penetrable stuff. — Act III, Sc. 4. 

Look here, upon this picture, and on this ; 

The counterfeit presentment of two brothers. 

See, what a grace was seated on his brow: 

Hyperion's curls ; the front of Jove himself ; 

An eye like Mars, to threaten and command; 

A station like the herald Mercury, 

New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill; 

A combination, and a form, indeed, 

Where every god did seem to set his seal, 

Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind. — Act ill, Sc. 4. 

I must be cruel, only to be kind: 

Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind. — Act III, Cc. 4. 

Sure, He that made us with such large discourse, 
Looking before and after, gave us not 
That capability and godlike reason, 
To rust in us unus'd. — Act IV, Sc. 4. 

We know what we are, but know not what we may be. — Act IV, Sc. 5. 

When sorrows come, they come not single spies, 
But in battalions.— Act IV, Sc. 5. 

One woe doth tread upon another's heels, 
So fast they follow.— Act IV, Sc. 7. 

Cudgel thy brains no more about it. — Act V, Sc. 1. 

The hand of little employment hath the daintier sense. — Act V, Sc. I. 

A politician. * * * One that could circumvent God. — Act V, Sc. 1. 

To what base uses we may return, Horatio ! Why may not imagina- 
tion trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping a bung- 
hole?— Act V, Sc. 1. 

Imperial Caesar, dead and turn'd to clay, 

Might stop a hole to keep the wind away. — Act V, Sc. 1. 

Lay her in the earth; 
And from her fair and unpolluted flesh, 
May violets spring. — Act V, Sc. 1. 

And from his ashes may be made, 

The violet of his native land. — Tennyson, In Mem., XVIII. 

Let Hercules himself do what he may, 

The cat will mew, and dog will have his day. — Act V, Sc. 1. 

There's a divinity that shapes our ends, 

Rough-hew them how we will. — Act V, Sc. 2. 

There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. — Act V, Sc. 2. 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES. 2$l 

King Lear. 

How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is 
To have a thankless child. — Act I, Sc. 4. 

Striving to better, oft we mar what's well. — Act I, Sc. 4. 

O, let not women's weapons, water drops, 
Stain my man's cheeks. — Act II, Sc. 4. 

I am a man 
More sinn'd against than sinning. — Act III, Sc. 2. 

Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, 
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, 
How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, 
Your loop'd and window'd raggedness defend you 
From seasons such as these? — Act III, Sc. 4. 

The green mantle of the standing pool. — Act III, Sc. 4. 

The prince of darkness is a gentleman. — Act III, Sc. 4. 

Ay, every inch a king. — Act IV, Sc. 6. 

Give me an ounce of civet, good apothecary, to sweeten my imagina- 
tion.— Act IV, Sc. 6. 

Through tatter'd clothes small vices do appear; 
Robes and furr'd gowns hide all. — Act IV, Sc. 6. 

Mine enemy's dog, 
Though he had bit me, should have stood that night 
Against my fire. — Act IV, Sc. 7. 

The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices 
Make instruments to plague us. — Act V, Sc. 3. 

Her voice was ever soft, 
Gentle, and low, — an excellent thing in woman. — Act V, Sc. 3. 

Othello. 

But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve 
For daws to peck at. — Act I, Sc. 1. 

Most potent, grave, and reverend seigniors, 

My very noble and approved good masters, 

That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter, 

It is most true ; true, I have married her : 

The very head and front of my offending 

Hath this extent, no more. Rude am I in my speech, 

And little bless'd with the soft phrase of peace; 

For since these arms of mine had seven years' pith 

Till now some nine moons wasted, they have used 

Their dearest action in the tented field; 

And little of this great world can I speak, 

More than pertains to feats of broil and battle; 

And, therefore, little shall I grace my cause 



232 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

In speaking for myself. Yet by your gracious patience, 
I will a round unvarnished tale deliver 
Of my whole course of love. — Act I, Sc. 3. 

Her father lov'd me; oft invited me; 

Still question'd me the story of my life, 

From year to year, the battles, sieges, fortunes, 

That I have pass'd. 

It ran through even from my boyish days, 

To the very moment that he bade me tell it: 

Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances, 

Of moving accidents by flood and field; 

Of hair-breadth 'scapes i' the imminent deadly breach; 

Of being taken by the insolent foe, 

And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence, 

And portance in my travel's history, 

Wherein of antres vast, and deserts idle, 

Rough quarries, rocks and hills whose heads touch heaven, 

It was my hint to speak, — such was the process ; 

And of the Cannibals that each other eat, 

And Anthropophagi, and men whose heads 

Do grow beneath their shoulders. This to hear, 

Would Desdemona seriously incline. — Act I, Sc. 3. 

And often did beguile her of her tears, 

When I did speak of some distressful stroke 

That my youth suffer'd. My story being done, 

She gave me for my pains a world of sighs : 

She swore, — in faith 'twas strange, 'twas passing strange; 

'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful : 

She wish'd she had not heard it; yet she wish'd 

That Heaven had made her such a man : she thanked me ; 

And bade me if I had a friend that loved her, 

I should but teach him how to tell my story, 

And that would woo her. Upon this hint I spake; 

She loved me for the dangers I had passed, 

And I loved her that she did pity them. 

This only is the witchcraft I have used. — Act I, Sc. 3. 

The robb'd that smiles, steals something from the thief. — Act I, Sc. 3. 

Reputation, reputation, reputation ! O, I have lost my reputation \ 
I have lost the immortal part, sir, of myself, and what remains is bestial. 

—Act II, Sc. 3. 

O, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away 
their brains ! — Act II, Sc. 3. 

Good name in man and woman, dear, my Lord, 

Is the immediate jewel of their souls. 

Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 

'T was mine, 't is his, and has been slave to thousands; 

But he that filches from me my good name.. 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES. 233 

Robs me of that which not enriches him, 
And makes me poor indeed. — Act III, Sc. 3. 

Poor and content is rich, and rich enough. — Act III, Sc. 3. 

Trifles, light as air, 
Are to the jealous confirmation strong 
As proofs of holy writ. — Act III, Sc. 3. 
Nor aught set down in malice : then must you speak 
Of one that lov'd, not wisely, but too well. — Act V. Sc. 2. 

Anthony and Cleopatra. 
There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd. — Act I, Sc. 1. 

My salad days, 
When I was green in judgment. — Act I, Sc. 5. 
Who does i' the wars more than his captain can, 
Becomes his captain's captain; and ambition, 
The soldier's virtue, rather makes choice of loss, 
Than gain which darkens him. — Act III, Sc. I. 

Pericles. 

3 Fish. — Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea. 
1 Fish. — Why, as men do a-land: the great ones eat up the little 
ones.— Act II, Sc. 1. 

Cymbeline. 
As chaste as unsunned snow. — Act II, Sc. 5. 
Some griefs are medicinable. — Act II, Sc. 5. 
Prouder than rustling in unpaid-for silk. — Act III, Sc. 3. 

No, 'tis slander, 
Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongue 
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile. — Act III, Sc. 4. 

Weariness 
Can snore upon the flint, when resty sloth 
Finds the downy pillow hard. — Act III, Sc. 6. 

Poems. 

Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear. 

Venus and Adonis, Line 145. 
For greatest scandal waits on greatest state. 

Lucrece, Line 1006. 
Have you not heard it said full oft, 
A woman's nay doth stand for naught? 

The Passionate Pilgrim, XIV. 
Like stones of worth, they thinly placed are, 
Or captain jewels in the carcanet. — Sonnet LII. 
Let me not to the true marriage of true minds 
Admit impediments: love is not love 
Which alters when it alteration finds. — Sonnet CXVI. 



234 



BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



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MANKIND S EARLIEST WRITINGS. 235 



MANKIND'S EARLIEST WRITINGS. 

PROFESSOR PETRIE'S RECENT EXCAVATIONS IN EGYPT SET 
BACK THE ALPHABET NEARLY 2,0OO YEARS ALPHA- 
BETICAL WRITINGS NOW SHOWN TO ANTE- 
DATE HIEROGLYPHS INSTEAD OF 
BEING BUT A DETERIORATED 
FORM OF THEM 

(Cleveland Leader.) 

Professor Flinders-Petrie has recently announced a new 
revelation from his latest Egyptian excavations. This time 
he has thrown new light upon the alphabet, and makes the an- 
nouncement that he has set back the earliest use of letters by 
nearly two thousand years. The discovery is of far-reaching 
importance to the literary world, adding as it does nearly 
twenty centuries more of culture to> the ancient peoples than 
hitherto dreamed of. Professor Petrie has laid before the 
Society of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain an 
account of his discoveries, outlining the method of procedure 
which led up to his making this remarkable and historic find. 

Some years ago Professor Petrie, while excavating in 
the period of 1400 to 2000 B. C. in Egypt, first noticed signs 
upon some pottery which closely resembled those of the Greek 
alphabet. He at that time suggested, as a supposition only, 
that they were an early stage of the alphabet. As the date 
accepted by the scientific world as that of the earliest alpha- 
betical writing was 800 B. C., the theory of an alphabet before 
this period was looked upon by scholars as a matter of pure 
conjecture and the signs were generally regarded as having 
been derived from Egyptian hieroglyphics. A belief in regard 
to the alphabet which has been commonly accepted up to the 
present time is that the letters or characters of the alphabet 



236 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

were originally hieroglyphics, and in their long course down 
to us they passed gradually from being the written expression 
of an idea into the written expression each of a single sound. 

Last season's evacuations, however, conclusively estab- 
lished Professor Petrie' s, original belief. On uncovering some 
of the royal tombs dating back to the XII. Dynasty, 2600 to 
3000 B. C, he again found large numbers of signs and letters 
upon the pottery and other utensils in the tomb chambers. 
The fact that the hieroglyphic system was not in the land at 
this period removed the signs altogether from the category of 
deteriorated hieroglyphics. 

By a fortunate coincidence Mr. Arthur Evans, the well- 
known British archaeologist, was at the same time carrying on 
a series of excavations on the Island of Crete in the Mediter- 
ranean. On the tablets, rock pillars, coins and other objects 
unearthed in the ancient remains of a huge palace Mr. Evans 
found a number of identical signs and letters of a period about 
2000 B. C. which correspond with those dug up in Egypt by 
Professor Petrie. Professor Petrie collected his Egyptian 
signs and letters and compared them with those of the Kretan 
form unearthed by Mr. Evans. This resulted in the startling 
and significant discovery that the letters of the Kretan signary 
and those of Egypt were identical and formed a most reliable 
basis for establishing the existence of the alphabet long prior 
to the date hitherto accepted. 

Professor Petrie assumes that we are now in the presence 
of a widespread and long lasting system of signs or signary 
which was common to the Mediterranean from Spain to 
Egypt. He arrives at this conclusion as follows: As early 
as 5,000 B. C, some trade existed around the Mediterranean 
as proved by the imports into Egypt. At that time the 
signary, or signs, of the alphabet was probably in the dim and 
uncertain beginning of its course. Some few signs have al- 
ready been found at that age, and these are likely to have been 
carried, therefore, from land to land. 

The signary continued and developed, held together a 
a good deal by intercourse, but with much variation in differ- 
ent lands. By 2,600 B. C. it contained over a hundred signs 



MANKIND S EARLIEST WRITINGS. 237 

in Egyptian form. Professor Petrie states that the great di- 
recting force which gave it a use not known before was the 
application of the signs as numerals by the Phoenicians. This 
system was entirely oriental, and even in the late times of coin- 
ings it was scarcely ever used in Europe. But once having 
been adopted by the leading commercial nations, the system- 
atized order became enforced in all the Mediterranean ports. 
Professor Petrie concludes that the signs and letters on the pot- 
tery of 2,600 to 3,000 B. C, which he uncovered were undoubt- 
edly used as an alphabet for written communications of spelled- 
out words in the early stages. This forms a body of signs with 
more or less generally understood meanings. The change of 
attributing a single letter value to each, and only using signs 
for sounds to be built into words is apparently a relatively late 
outcome of the systematizing due to Phoenician commerce. 

The accompanying illustration shows five periods of the 
Egyptian signary collected by Professor Petrie. Adjoining 
these he has arranged the Kretan Signary collected by Mr. 
Arthur Evans from recent excavations on the Island of Crete, 
dating 2,000 B. C. The Karin is that collected by Professor 
Sayce. The Spanish is the well-known alphabet of inscription. 
By Professor Petrie' s arrangement the table is self-explana- 
tory and points out to the reader at a glance the various iden- 
tical letters as they appear in the different periods of remote 
time, and their comparison with those recently excavated by 
him. 



HEBREW. 



Looked at from the scientific point of view, Hebrew is 
considered a dead language. In reality, however, Hebrew has 
never been dead, though even to-day it is nowhere a mother 
tongue like the English or French. In the first place, Hebrew 
has at all times been the Jewish religious and literary lan- 
guage — the language of the Bible ; and as the Jews, from the 
oldest times, considered it their duty to give their children 
religious instruction, the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, 
and with it also that of the Hebrew language, was much 



2 3& BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

diffused among them. With the destruction of the Jewish 
nation Hebrew became the only means of communication be- 
tween the Jews of the various countries, and, as only those 
books written in that tongue could become the common prop- 
erty of Judaism, all the philosophical and poetical works of 
the Golden Age of the Hispano-Arabic epoch were at an early 
date rendered into Hebrew. But it was in the second half 
of the nineteenth century, and especially within the last two 
decades, that Hebrew literature revived with a redoubled 
vigor. In 1750 we meet with the first journalistic attempt 
in Hebrew literature. The great philosopher, Moses Men- 
delssohn, at that time not more than twenty-one years old, 
began to publish the first Hebrew weekly, called " Qoheleth 
Mussar" (The Moral Preacher). To-day, besides many hun- 
dreds of books in all branches of science and literature, nu- 
merous weeklies and daily periodicals, both of literary 
and political contents, are being published in the prin- 
cipal cities of Europe, and particularly in Russia. In 
the United States alone, according to a compilation 
made by A. S. Freidus, of the New York Public Library, 
no less than sixteen Hebrew periodicals have been 
issued. Those who consider the Hebrew a " dead " language 
would be surprised at seeing the life and activity manifesting 
in modern Hebrew literature, which faithfully reflects the 
bellettristic literature of the European languages. There are 
represented the various tendencies of our times, classics, ro- 
mantics, realists, symbolists, moderns, decadents and what 
not. Maeterlinck has his congenial rivals in Russia and 
Poland, and there is as great a controversy about Nietzsche 
in the Hebrew press as in the German. Moreover, numerous 
societies have been founded in several European cities with 
the object of disseminating a knowledge of Hebrew, the 
ancient language of the Bible and the prophets. — Leon 
Londsberg. 



PECULIAR FIGURES OF SPEECH. 239 



PECULIAR FIGURES OF SPEECH. 

In our Symposium, from Nos. 152 to 242 inclusive, we 
have defined nearly all the figures of speech ever used by 
English writers, and those figures most frequently used have 
been exemplified by numerous references from the text. Those 
figures which are between Nos. 226 and 241 are of such sel- 
dom occurence as to require special examples for illustration, 
which we append herewith : 

226 Meiosis or Litotes is a figure that is nearly the opposite 
of Hyperbola 209 or exaggeration, 210 and it consists in any 
form of expression that will minify or reduce the importance 
of the thing compared. This is often accomplished indirectly 
by a negative form of expression ; thus, " A writer of no 
mean ability ;" " The dance, the music, and last but not least, 
the sleigh-ride home." Of course the attempt to minify is 
expected to react in favor of the subject so treated. 

227 Pleonasm. Almost any legal document will afford strik- 
ing specimens of this figure. Thus in a deed the grantee is 
said to " Give, grant, bargan, sell, and convey " the property 
described. A warrant for arrest for assault and battery al- 
leges that the accused " did beat, strike, wound, and other- 
wise maltreat " the defendant. 

230 Ellipsis is the omission of words that are implied by the 
grammatical construction, and is of frequent occurrence; but 
a species of this class, viz., Asyndeton, 231 is the omission of all 
connectives. Thus, "We have wealth, talent, energy, hero- 
ism, inspiration enlisted in our behalf." Polysyndeton 232 puts 
in all the connectives ; thus, " We have wealth, and talent, and 
energy, and heroism, and inspiration enlisted in our behalf." 
The effect of these two figures is much the same. In Asyn- 
deton the connectives are made conspicuous by their studied 



240 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

absence. In Polysyndeton the connectives are dwelt upon, 
and the series is thus prolonged until it seems longer than it 
really is. 

233 Aposiopesis is the suppression of something which the 
speaker or writer seemed about to say. In this way a sudden 
reticence may emphasize what has been merely hinted at. 
Thus, " His character is such — but it is better that I should 
not speak of that." The sudden termination of any sentence 
before the sense is complete does not come under this figure, 
unless done purposely for effect. When unintentional, it* is 
called a Solecism. 

234 Epizeuxis is the repetition of the same word for effect. 
Sometimes great emphasis is obtained by accumulated epi- 
zeuxis. The following is a four-fold example: 
" Alone, alone, all, all alone, 
Alone on a wide, wide sea." 

— Coleridge, Ancient Mariner, IV. 

235 Epanadiplosis. begins and ends a sentence with the same 
word. Of course, to constitute a figure of speech, this con- 
struction must be manifestly intentional. A mere accidental 
beginning and ending with the same word, without any ap- 
parent design, would cause no rhetorical effect, and would 
therefore not constitute epanadiplosis. A noted example of 
this is found in the fourth verse of the fourth chapter of 
Phillipians: " Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, 
Rejoice." 

236 Epanalepsis is a repetition of a word or phrase after 
intervening words; a return to the same subject after a sudden 
digression. Paul gives us an example of this figure in I Cor. 
XI, beginning with the 18th verse, " When ye come together 
in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you * * ;" 
and then in verse 20 he returns from the digression and begins 
the sentence again with he same words, " When ye come 
together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's 
supper." 

237 Epanaphora is the repetition of the same phrase at the 
beginning of succeeding clauses. The Book of Psalms con- 



ARCHITECTURE OF EXPRESSION. 24I 

tains many examples of Epanaphora. In the Twenty-ninth 
Psalm, the phrase " Give unto the Lord," is used three times 
in the first two verses, and the phrase " The voice of the Lord" 
is used seven times in verses 3-9. Also, the words " By faith," 
or " Through faith" (both being represented by the same 
form in Greek), are used to* begin eighteen out of twenty- 
nine verses in Heb. XL The same figure also applies to the 
use of synonymous words in the same manner ; as, " Praise 
the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people." — Rom. 
XV, 11. The converse of Epanaphora is epiphora. It is 
also called anaphora, and sometimes epiboie. 

238 Epanastrope is repeating the ending of one sentence for 
the beginning of the next. It is a style that is used largely in 
argumentation. It is also called anadisplosis. The Sorites, 
or chain syllogism, 472 is a figure of this kind, thus : 

The mind is a thinking substance. 

A thinking substance is a spirit. 

A spirit has no composition of parts. 

That which has no composition of parts is indissoluble. 

That which is indissoluble is immortal. 
. '. The mind is immortal. 

239 Epanodos is repeating the parts of a clause in inverse 
order. Thus, Milton : 

"O more exceeding love, or law more just; 
Just law indeed, but more exceeding love." 

This figure also includes the repetition of topics for more 
minute consideration, especially if repeated in inverse order. 

240 Epanorthosis is the immediate revocation of a word or 
statement for the purpose of correcting, justifying, mitigating 
or intensifying it, (usually the last) ; as " Most brave! — 
Brave, did I say? Most heroic act." This figure is also called 
epidiorthosis. 

241 Prosopopcea, although now nearly the came as Personi- 
fication, was restricted in ancient writings to the represen- 
tation of one person by another; as where Milo is introduced 
by Cicero as speaking through his, (Cicero's) lips. The an- 
cients also called this figure Sermocinatio. 



242 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

242 Onomatopoea is sufficiently explained in the Symposium 
as the use of words, that sound like the things which they 
represent; as, buzz, roar, hum, pewitt, whippoorwill, etc. J. 
A. H. Murray, in the ninth annual address to the Philological 
Society, passes a just criticism upon this word. He says, 
" Onomatopcea [as a word], in addition to its awkwardness, 
has neither associativeness nor etymological relation to words 
imitating sounds." Many modern writers have discarded the 
word, and use in its stead the word " imitative/' or " imitative 
variation." 

It will be remembered that the use of the rhetorical figures 
is not restricted to educated people. Children and savages 
delight in the imagery of comparisons, and every imagina- 
tive person will almost intuitively employ some form of em- 
bellishment of language that will represent one thing under the 
guise of another. 

The presence of figure in early English is evidenced by 
the following definition : 

" Figure it selfe is a certaine liuely or good grace set 
vpon wordes, speaches, and sentences, to some purpose and 
not in vaine, giuing them ornament or efficacie by many man- 
ner of alterations in shape, sounde, and also in sence." — Put- 
tenham, Art of English Poesie, p. 133. 

The Bible not only uses figures of speech, but even speaks 
of them as such ; thus, " And these things, brethren, I have 
in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sake." 
—I. Cor. IV. 6. 

Referring to ill chosen comparisons, the poet says, 

" Their motley images her fancy strike, 
Figures ill-pair'd, and similes unlike." 

— Pope, Dunciad, I, 66. 

" The most illiterate speak in figures as often as the most 
learned."—//. Blair, Rhetoric, XVI. 



ARCHITECTURE OF EXPRESSION. 243 

I WOULD NOT. 

Note.— The following is a sample of Dactyllic Tetrameter,305 3 12 
but a peculiar charm is imparted by the use of long rhythmical words 
at the end of the line. It is a difficult class of poetry to write, on ac- 
count of the scarcity of such words. 

I would not marry a pink of propriety, 

Some one whose motto is, " love and obey." 
What is more charming than sweet contrariety, 

Spiced with submissiveness once in a way? 

Life with an angel? " Twould be insipidity! 

Diet that soon on the palate would pall; 
Give me the fruit with a dash of acidity, 

Rather than that with no flavor at all. 

Others may boast how they lazily measure 

Sweetness unmixed from the marital cup ; 
What were life worth if deprived of the pleasure, 

The exquisite pleasure of "kiss and make up?" 

Fortunate maids who are gifted with wittiness, 

Pray don't conceal it for fear I should see; 
Brightness is twenty times better than prettiness, 

Stupid good nature will never suit me — Table Talk. 

ANOTHER. 

Then, 
Up with our banner, the emblem of purity; 
Follow it fearlessly into futurity. 
Banish all hollow pretense that but mystifies. 
Be that simplicity men dare not criticise. 
Walk arm in arm with truth and sincerity; 
Make your profession a logical verity. 
Thus shall your spirit be lifted supernally, 
Bearing the watchword, " Progress Eternally ! " 

From a Baccalaureate Address by H. D. Gould. 



INDIRECTIONS 312 



Fair are the flowers and the children, but their subtle suggestion is 

fairer ; 
Rare is the rose-burst of dawn, but the secret that clasps it is rarer ; 
Sweet the exultance of song, but the strain that precedes it is 

sweeter ; 
And never was poem yet writ, but the meaning outmastered the meter. 
Never a daisy that grows, but a mystery guideth the growing; 
Never a river that flows, but a majesty scepters the flowing; 
Never a Shakespeare that soared, but a stronger than he did enfold 

him; 
And never a prophet foretells, but a mighter seer hath foretold him. 



244 B EST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Back of the canvas that throbs, the painter is hinted and hidden; 

Into the statute that throbs, the soul of the sculptor is bidden; 

Under the joy that is felt lie the infinite issues of feeling; 

Crowning the glory revealed is the glory that crowns the revealing. 

Great are the symbols of being, but that which is symboled is greater ; 

Vast the create and beheld, but vaster the inward creator; 

Back of the sound broods the silence ; back of the gift stands the giv- 
ing; 

Back of the hand that receives thrill the sensitive nerves of receiving. 

Space is nothing to spirit; the deed is outdone by the doing; 

The heart of the wooer is warm, but warmer the heart of the wooing ; 

And up from the pit where these shiver, and down from the heights 
where these shine, 

Twin shadows and voices swim, and the essence of life is divine. 

— Richard Realfe. 



A WOMAN'S QUESTION. 

Do you know you have asked for the costliest thing 

Ever made by the hand above — 
A woman's heart and a woman's life, 

And a woman's wonderful love? 

Do you know you have asked for this priceless thing 

As a child might ask for a toy? 
Demanding what others have died to win, 

With the reckless dash of a boy? 

You have written my lesson of duty out, 

Man-like you have questioned me — 
Now stand at the bar of my woman's soul, 

Until I shall question thee. 

You require your mutton shall always be hot, 

Your socks and your shirts shall be whole; 

I require your heart to be true as God's stars, 
And pure as heaven your soul. 

You require a cook for your mutton and beef; 

I require a far better thing; 
A seamstress you're wanting for socks and shirts — 

I look for a man and a king. 

A king for a beautiful realm called home, 

And a man that the maker, God, 
Shall look upon as he did the first, 

And say, "It is very good." 



ARCHITECTURE OF EXPRESSION. 245 

I am fair and young, but the rose will fade 

From my soft young cheek one day — 
Will you love me then, 'mid the falling leaves, 

As you did 'mid the bloom of May? 

Is your heart an ocean so strong and deep 

I may launch my all on its tide? 
A loving woman finds heaven or hell 

On the day she is made a bride. 

I require all things that are grand and true, 

All things that a man should be; 
If you give this all I would stake my life 

To be all you demand of me. 

If you cannot do this — a laundress and cook 

You can hire with little to pay ; 
But a woman's heart and a woman's life 

Are not to be won that way. 

— Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 



REPLY TO "A WOMAN'S QUESTION." 

You say I have asked for the costliest thing 

Ever made by the hand above — 
A woman's heart and a woman's life, 

And a woman's wonderful love. 

That I have written your duty out, 

And, man-like, have questioned free. 
You demand that I stand at the bar of your soul, 

While you in turn question me. 

And when I ask you to be my wife, 

The head of my house and home, 
Whose path I would scatter with sunshine through life, 

Thy shield when sorrow shall come — 

You reply with disdain and a curl of the lip, 
And point to my coat's missing button, 

And haughtily ask if I want a cook, 

To serve up my beef and my mutton. 

'Tis a king that you look for. Well, I am not he, 

But only a plain, earnest man. 
Whose feet often shun the hard path they should tread, 

Often shrink from the gulf they should span. 



246 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Tis hard to believe that the rose will fade 

From the cheek so full, so fair; 
'Twere harder to think that a heart proud and cold 

Were ever reflected there. 

True, the rose will fade, and the leaves will fall, 

And the autumn of life will come ; 
But the heart that I give will be true as in May, 

Should I make it thy shelter, thy home. 

Thou requirest "all things that are good and true, 

All things that a man should be;" 
Ah! lady, my truth doubt not, doubt not, 

For the rest, I leave it to thee. 

— Pelham, in Boston Transcript. 



LACONICS. 

BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT IDEAS. 

Ideas control the world. — Garfield. 

A soul occupied with great ideas best performs small duties. 

— Martineau. 

Our ideas are transformed sensations. — Condillac. 

Ideas are like beards ; men do not have then until they grow up. 

— Voltaire. 

A beautiful hunger for a great idea is the beauty and blessedness 
of life. — Jean Ingelow. 

We live in an age in which superfluous ideas abound, and essential 
ideas are lacking. — Joubert. 

In these days we fight for ideas, and newspapers are our fortresses. 

— Heinrich Heine. 

Old ideas are prejudices and new ones caprices. — X. Doudan. 

Old ideas, like orange plants, spread out in proportion to the size 
of the box which imprisons the roots. — Bulwer-Lytton. 

Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than 
in the one where they sprung up. That which was a weed in one in- 
telligence becomes a flower in the other, and the flower again dwindles 
down to a mere weed by the same change. Healthy growths may 
become poisonous by falling upon the wrong mental soil, and what seemed 
a night-shade in one mind unfolds as a morning-glory in the other. 

— Holmes. 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES. 247 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES.— 5. 

FRANCIS BACON. 
1561-1626. 

No pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage ground 
of truth.— Essay I, Of Truth. 

Virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed 
or crushed. — Essay V , Of Adversity. 

A little philosophy inclineth a man's mind to atheism, but depth in 
philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion. — Essay XVI, Atheism. 

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few 
to be chewed and digested. — Essay I, Of Studies. 

Reading maketh a full man, conference, a ready man, and writing 
an exact man. — Essay I, Of Studies. 

Histories make men wise ; poets, witty ; the mathematics, subtle ; nat- 
ural philosophy, deep ; moral, grave ; logic and rhetoric, able to contend. — 
Essay I, Of Studies. 

My Lord St. Albans said that nature did never put her precious jewels 
into a garret four stories high, and therefore that exceedingly tall men 
had ever very empty heads. — Apothegm No. 17. 

States as great engines move slowly. — Advancement of Learning. 
Bk. 2. 

The world's a bubble, and the life of man 
Less than a span. — The World. 

For my name and memory, I leave it to men's charitable speeches^ 
to foreign nations, and to the next ages. — From his Will. 



RICHARD ALLISON. 
1606. 



Those cherries fairly do enclose 

Of orient pearl a double row, 
Which, when her lovely laughter shows, 

They look like rosebuds filll'd with snow. 

— From An Howres Recreation in Music. 



248 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

GEORGE PEELE. 
1552-1598. 

His helmet now shall make a hive for bees, 

And lover's songs be turned to holy psalms; 

A man at arms must now serve on his knees, 

And feed on prayers, which are old age's alms. — Polyhymnia. 

My merry, merry roundelay 

Concludes with Cupid's curse : 
They that do change old love for new, 

Pray gods, they change for worse! — Cupid's Curse. 



JOHN HEYWOOD. 
1565. 



The loss of wealth is loss of dirt, 

As sages in all times assert; 

The happy man's without a shirt. — Be Merry Friends. 

Let the world slide, let the world go: 

A fig for care, and a fig for woe! 

If I can't pay, why I can owe, 

And death makes equal the high an l d low. — Be Merry Friends. 



SIR HENRY WOTTON. 
1 568- 1 639. 

How happy is he born or taught, 

That serveth not another's will; 

Whose armor is his honest thought, 

And simple truth his utmost skill ! — The Character of a Happy Life. 

Hanging was the worst use man could be put to. 

— The Disparity Between Buckingham and Essex. 

An ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the common- 
wealth. — In Christopher Fleckamore's Album. 

The itch of disputing will prove the scab of the churches. 

— A Panegyric to King Charles. 



SIR JOHN HARRINGTON. 
1561-1612. 

Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? 
Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason. 

— Epigrams. Bk. IV, No. 5. 



WHOWHEN-WHERE SERIES. 249 

SAMUEL DANIEL. 
1652-1619. 

Unless above himself he can 
Erect himself, how poor a thing is man! 

— To The Countess of Cumberland, Stanza 12. 



MICHAEL DRAYTON. 
1 563- 163 1. 



For that fine madness still he did retain, 

Which rightly should possess a poet's brain. — Poets and Poesy. 






DR. JOHN DONNE. 
1573-1631. 

He was the Word, that spake it; 
He took the bread and brake it; 
And what the Word did make it, 
I do believe and take it. 

— Divine Poems. On The Sacrament. 

She and comparisons are odius. — Elegy 8, The Comparison. 

Who are a little wise, the best fools be. — The Triple Pool. 



BEN JONSON. 
1574-1637. 



Drink me only with thine eyes, 

And I will pledge with mine; 
Or leave a kiss but in the cup, 

And I'll not look for wine. 

— The Forest. To Celia. 

In small proportion we just beauties see, 

And in short measures life may perfect be. — Good Life, Long Life. 

Give me a look, give me a face, 

That makes simplicity a grace. 

Robes loosely flowing, hair as free; 

Such sweet neglect more taketh me, 

Than all the adulteries of art; 

They strike mine eyes, but not my heart. — The Silent Woman. 

He was not of an age, but for all time. — Memory of Shakespeare. 



250 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

BISHOP HALL. 
1574-1656. 
Moderation is the silken string running through the pearl chain of 
all virtues. — Christian Moderation. Introduction. 

Death borders upon our birth, and our cradle stands in the grave. 

—Epistles. 



PHILLIP MASSINGER. 

1 584- 1 640. 
Some undone widow sits upon mine arm, 
And takes away the use of it; and my sword, 
Glued to my scabbard with wronged orphans tears, 
Will not be drawn.— A New Way to Pay Old Debts, Act V. Sc. 1. 

o 

JOHN FLETCHER. 

1576-1625. 
Man is his own star, and the soul that can 
Render an honest and a perfect man 
Commands all light, all influence, all fate. 
Nothing to him falls early or too late. 
Our acts our angels are, or good or ill, 
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still. — Honest Man's Fortune. 



BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER. 
There is a method in man's wickedness, 

It grows up by degrees. — A King and No King, Act V. Sc. 4. 
Calamity is man's true touchstone. — The Triumph of Honor, Sc. 1. 
Of all the paths lead to a woman's love, 
Pity's the straightest. — The Knight of Malta. 
What's one man's poison, signor, 
Is another's meat and drink. — Love's Cure. Act III, Sc. 2. 

o 

THOMAS CAREW. 
1589-1639. 
He that loves a rosy cheek, 
Or a coral lip admires, 
Or from starlike eyes doth seek 

Fuel to maintain his fires; 
As old time makes these decay, 

So his flames must waste away. — Disdain Returned. 
Then fly, betimes, for only they 
Conquer Love, that run away. — Conquest by Flight. 



GEORGE WITHER. 
1 588- 1667. 
Jack shall pipe and Gill shall dance. — Poem on Christmas. 



WHO-WHEN-WHKRE SERIES. 2$I 

Though I am young, I scorn to flit 

On the wings of borrowed wit. — The Shepherd's Hunting. 

And I oft have heard defended 

Little said is soonest mended.— Shepherd's Hunting. 



THOMAS HOBBES. 
1588-1679. 
For words are wise men's counters, they do but reckon by them; 
but they are the money of fools. — The Leviathan, Part I, Ch. 4. 



JOHN SELDEN. 
1584-1654. 

Old friends are best. King James used to call for his old shoes; 
they were easiest for his feet. — Friends. 

No man is the wiser for his learning. * * * wit and wisdom are 
born with a man. — Learning. 

Take a straw and throw it up in the air, you may see by that which 

way the wind is. — Libels. 

Thou little thinkest what a little foolery governs the world. — Pope. 
Syllables govern the world. — Power. 



IZAAK WALTON. 
1593-1683. 

I shall stay him no longer than to wish * * * that if he be an 
honest angler, the east wind may never blow when he goes a fishing. 

— Preface. 

I remember that a wise friend of mine did usually say, That which 
is everybody's business, is nobody's business. — Part I, Ch. 2. 

Angling is somewhat like poetry, men are to be born so. 

—Part I, Ch. 1. 

No man can loose what he never had. — Part I, Ch. 5. 

We may say of angling as Dr. Boteler (William Butler) said of 
strawberries : " Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but 
doubtless God never did:" and so, if I might be judge, God never did 
make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling. — Part I, Ch. 5. 

All that are lovers of virtue, * * * be quiet, and go a-Angling. 

—Part I, Ch. 21. 



252 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

FRANCIS QUARLES. 
1592-1644. 

Be wisely worldly, be not worldly wise. — Emblems, Book II, 2. 

This house is to be let for life or years; 

Her rent is sorrow, and here income tears ; 

Cupid, 't has long stood void; her bills make known, 

She must be clearly let, or let alone. — Emblems, Book II, 10. 

The slender debt to nature 's quickly paid, 

Discharged, perchance, with greater ease than made. 

— Emblems, Book 11. 



GEORGE HERBERT. 
1 593- 1 632. 



Only a sweet and virtuous soul, 

Like seasoned timber, never gives. — Virtue. 

A verse may find him who a sermon flies, 

And turn delight into a sacrifice. — The Church Porch. 

Dare to be true, nothing can need a lie; 

A fault which needs it most, grows two thereby. — The Church Porch. 

Sundays observe: think when the bells do chime 
'T is angel's music. — The Church Porch. 

The worst speak something good ; if all want sense, 

God takes a text, and preacheth Pa-ti-ence. — The Church Porch. 

Wouldst thou both eat thy cake and have it? — The Size. 

Do well and right, and let the world sink. — Country Parson, Ch. 29. 

Help thyself, and God will help thee. — Jacula Prudentum. 



SIR JOHN SUCKLING. 
1609-1641. 

'T is expectation makes a blessing dear ; 

Heaven were not Heaven, if we knew what it were. 

— Against Fruition. 

Her face is like the milky way i' the sky, 

A meeting of gentle lights without a name. — Brennoralt, Act. III. 

The prince of darkness is a gentleman. — The Gobblins. 

— See Shakespeare, — King Lear. 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES. 253 

ROBERT HERRICK. 
1591-1674. 
Some asked me where the rubies grew, 

And nothing I did say; 
But with my finger pointed to 
The lips of Julia. 

—The Rock of Rubies, and Quarrie of Pearls. 
Some asked how pearls did grow, and where? 

Then I spoke to my Girl, 
To part her lips, and showed them there 
The Quarelets of Pearl.— Same. 

Her eyes the glow-worm lend thee, 
The shooting-stars attend thee; 

And the elves also, 

Whose little eyes glow 
Like the sparks of fire, befriend thee. 

— Night Piece to Julia. 

You say to me-wards your affection 's strong; 
Pray love me little, so you love me long. 

— Love me Little, Love me Long. 

Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt ; 

Nothing 's so hard but search will find it out. — Seek and find. 



JAMES SHIRLEY. 
1596-1666. 

There is no armour against fate; 

Death lays his icy hand on kings. — Ajax and Ulysses. 

Only the actions of the just, 

Smell sweet and blossom in the dust. — Ajax and Ulysses. 

The sweet remembrance of the just 

Shall flourish when he sleeps in dust. — Psalm CXII, 6 



JOHN KEPLER. 
1571-1630. 
It may well wait a century for a reader, as God has waited six 
thousand years for an observer. — Brewsters Martyrs of Science. 



RICHARD LOVELACE. 
1618-1658. 

I could not love thee, dear, so much, 

Loved I not honor more. — To Lucasta, on going to the wars. 



254 B ^ ST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Stone walls do not a prison make, 

Nor iron bars a cage; 
Minds innocent and quiet take 

That for an heritage; 
If I have freedom in my love, 

And in my soul am free, 
Angels alone that soar above 

Enjoy such liberty. — To Althea, from prison. 



JOHN WEBSTER. 
1638. 



'T is just like a summer birdcage in a garden; the birds that are 
without despair to get in, and the birds that are within despair and are 
in a consumption, for fear they shall never get out. — The White Devil. 

Glories, like glow-worms, afar off shine bright, 

But look'd to near have neither heat nor light. — The White Devil. 



RICHARD CRASHAW. 
161 6- 1 650. 

The conscious water saw its God and blushed. — Epigram on John II, 

Whoe'er she be, 

That not impossible she, 

That shall command my heart and me. 

— Wishes To His Supposed Mistress. 

A happy soul that all the way 
To heaven hath a summer's day. 

— In Praise of Lessius's Rules of Health. 
The modest front of this small floor, 
Believe me, reader, can say more 
Than many a braver marble can, — 

" Here lies a truly honest man ! — Epitaph on Mr. Ashton. 
o 

THOMAS HEYWOOD. 
1649. 

The world's a theater, the earth a stage 

Which God and nature do with actors fill. — Apology for Actors. 

Her that ruled the rost in the kitchen. — History of Women. 

Seven cities warr'd for Homer being dead ; 

Who living had no roofe to shrowd his head. — Hierarchie of Angells. 

Seven wealthy towns contend for Homer dead, 
Through which the living Homer begged his bread. 

— Ascribed to Thomas Seward. 



SCIENTIFIC SPECIALS. 



THE WONDERS OF RADIUM. 257 



THE WONDERS OF RADIUM. 
By Cleveland Moffett. 

By Permission of the S. S. McClure Co. 

Radium, recently discovered by M. and Mme. Curie, of Paris, is one 
of the rarest of the seventy odd known elementary substances that com- 
pose our earth. It is worth about three thousand times its weight in 
pure gold. It looks like ordinary table salt. Thus far only a few ounces 
of radium have been taken from the earth and purified. The material 
for this article was furnished by M. Curie himself and his laboratory 
assistant, M. Danne. — The Editor. 

Very well do I remember my first impression of M. Curie. 
It was in the rue Cuvier at the Sorbonne laboratories in Paris 
where he was lecturing that day in the big amphitheatre, while 
I waited in an adjoining room among the air-pumps and elec- 
trical apparatus. Suddenly a door opened and there came a 
burst of applause, a long clapping of hands, and at the same 
moment a tall, pale man, slightly bent, walked slowly across 
the room. 

On this occasion I simply made an appointment to see 
M. Curie the next morning at the ficole de Physique, but I 
profited by the opportunity to ask his assistant, M. Danne, 
some preliminary questions about radium. Was it true, could 
it be true, that this strange substance gives forth heat and light 
ceaselessly and is really an inexhaustible scource of energy ? Of 
course, I had read all this, but I wanted to hear it from the 
mouth of one who knew. 

" It is quite true," said M. Danne, " that pure radium 
gives out light and heat without any waste or diminution that 
can be detected by our most delicate instruments. That is all 
we can say." 

" Is the light that it gives a bright light?" 

" Reasonably bright. M. Curie will show you." 

" Can he explain it ? Can any one explain it ?" 



258 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

u There are various theories, but they really explain very 
little." 

M. Danne went on to indicate other properties of radium 
that are scarcely less startling than these. Besides heat and 
light this strange metal gives out constantly three kinds of 
invisible rays that move with the velocity of light or there- 
abouts and that have separate and well marked attributes. 
These rays may be helpful or harmful, they may destroy life 
or stimulate it. They are capable not only of shortening life 
or prolonging it, but of modifying existing forms of life, that 
is, of actually creating new species. Finally, by destroying 
bacteria, they may be used to cure disease, notably the dread 
lupus recently conquered by Finsen's lamps and now apparently 
conquered again by a simpler means. 

I listened in amazement; it was not one discovery but a 
dozen that we were contemplating. 

"And — all this is M. Curie's discovery?" 

" Radium is his discovery ; that is, his and Madam 
Curie's. You cannot give one more credit than the other. 
They did it together." 

He told me a little about Mme. Curie, who, it appears, 
was a Polish student in the Latin Quarter, very poor but poss- 
essed of rare talents. They say that her marriage with M. 
Curie was just such a union as must have produced some fine 
results. Without his scientific learning and vivid imagination 
it is doubtful if radium would ever have been dreamed of, and 
without her determination and patience against detail it is likely 
the dream would never have been realized. 

THE TOILSOME PROCESS OF REFINING. 

The next day I found M. Curie in one of the rambling 
sheds of the £cole de Physique bending over a small porcelain 
dish, where a colorless liquid was simmering, perhaps half a 
teacupful, seven thousand francs' worth of radium in a fairly 
weak solution, and he watching it with concern, always fearful 
of some accident. He had lost nearly a decigrame (1.5 
grains troy) of radium, he said, only a few weeks before in 
a curious way. He had placed some radium salts in a small 
tube, and this inside another tube in which he created a 



THE WONDERS OF RADIUM. 259 

vacuum. Then he began to heat both tubes over an electric 
furnace, when, suddenly, at about 2000 degrees (F.), there 
came an explosion which shattered the tubes and scattered 
their precious contents. There was absolutely no explanation 
of this, explosion ; it was one of the tricks that radium is apt 
to play on you. Here his face lightened with quite a boyish 
smile. 

M. Curie proceeded to explain what he was doing with 
the little dish; he was refining some radium dissolved in it, 
freeing it from contaminating barium by repeated crystalliza- 
tion, this, being the last and most delicate part of the process 
of obtaining the pure metal. 

" We have our radium works outside of Paris,' ' he said, 
"'where the crude ore goes through its early stages of separa- 
tion and where the radium is brought to an intensity of 2,000 
as we express it. After that the process requires such care and 
involves so much risk of waste that we keep the precious stuff 
in our own hands and treat it ourselves, my wife and I as I 
am doing now, to bring it to the higher intensities, 50,000, 
200,000, 500,000, and, finally, 1,500,000. What you see here 
is about 100,000. It will take many more crystallizations to 
bring it to the maximum." 

" That is to the state of pure radium." 

" To the state of pure chloride of radium. You know 
the metal exists only as a chloride or bromide. It has never 
yet been isolated, although it easily might be." 

" Why has it never been isolated? " 

" Because it would not be stable, it would immediately 
be oxidized by the air and destroyed, as happens with sodium, 
whereas it remains permanent as a bromide or chloride and 
suffers no change." 

M. Curie then explained that, among its many strange 
properties, radium has this, one of rendering the air about it 
a better conductor of electricity, and the more it increases 
this conductivity of the air the more intense it is said to be. 
Now it has been known for several years that the metal ura- 
nium possesses properties similar to those of radium, only 
much less marked, consequently the unit of intensity chosen 



200 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

for a measuring instrument was the ratio-activity of ura- 
nium, and when a given lot of radium is said to have a certain 
intensity, say 2,000 or 500,000, it is understood that this radi- 
um renders the air 2,000 times or 500,000 times more conduc- 
tive than an equal quantity of uranium would render it. 

A SOURCE OF DANGEROUS RAYS. 

" Does radium change in appearance as it increases in 
intensity ? " I asked. 

" No, it keeps the form of small white crystals which may 
be crushed into a white powder and which look like ordinary 
salt. See, here are some." 

He took from the table drawer a small glass tube not 
much larger than a thick match. It was sealed at both ends 
and partly covered with a fold of lead. Inside the tube I 
could see a white powder. 

" Why is the tube wrapped with lead ? " I inquired. 

" For the protection of those who handle it. Lead stops 
the harmful rays that would otherwise make trouble." 

"Trouble?" 

" Yes, you see the radium in this tube is very active; it 
has an intensity of 1,500,000, and if I were to lay it against 
your hand or any part of your body so," — he touched the bare 
tube to my hand — " and if I were to leave it there for a few 
minutes, you would certainly hear from it later." 

" But I feel nothing." 

" Of course not ; neither did I feel anything when I 
touched some radium here," and pulling up his sleeve he 
showed me a forearm scarred and reddened from fresh-healed 
sores. " But you see what it did, and it was much less in- 
tense than this specimen." 

He then mentioned an experience of his friend, Professor 
Becquerel, discoverer of the " Becquerel rays " of uranium, 
and in a way the parent-discovery of radium, since the latter 
discovery grew out of the former. It seems that Professor 
Becquerel, in journeying to London, carried in his waistcoat 
pocket a small tube of radium to be used in a lecture there. 
Nothing happened at the time, but about a fortnight later the 
professor observed that the skin under his pocket was begin- 



THE WONDERS OF RADIUM. 26l 

ning to redden and fall away, and finally a deep and painful 
sore formed there and remained for weeks before healing. A 
peculiar feature of these radium sores is that they do not ap- 
pear for quite a time after exposure to the rays. 

"Then radium is an element of destruction? " I re- 
marked. 

" Undoubtedly it has a power of destruction, but that 
power may be tempered or controlled, for instance, by this 
covering of lead. M. Danysz, at the Pasteur Institute, will 
give you the pathological facts better than I can." 

EMANATIONS OF HEAT AND LIGHT RAYS. 

This brought us back to physical facts, and I asked M. 
Curie if the radium before us was at that moment giving out 
heat and light, for I could perceive neither. 

" Of course it is," he replied. " I will take you into a 
dark room presently and let you see the light for yourself. 
As for the heat, a thermometer would show that this tube of 
radium is one and a half degrees (Cent.) (2.7°F.) warmer 
than the surrounding air." 

" Is it always that much warmer? " 

" Always — as far as we know. I may put it more simply 
by saying that a given quantity of radium will melt its own 
weight of ice every hour." 

"Forever?" 

He smiled. " As far as we know — forever. Or again, 
that a given quantity of radium throws out as much heat in 
eighty hours as an equal weight of coal would throw out if 
burned to complete combustion in one hour." 

" Suppose you had a considerable quantity of radium," 
I suggested, " say twenty pounds, or a hundred pounds ?" 

" The law would be the same, whatever the quantity. 
If we had fifty kilos (no pounds) of radium," he gave a little 
wondering cluck at the thought ; " I say if we had fifty kilos 
of radium it would give out as much heat continuously as a 
stove would give out that burned ten kilos (twenty-two 
pounds) of coal'every twenty-four hours, and was filled up 
fresh every day. 



262 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

" And the radium would never cease to give out this heat 
and would never be consumed? " 

" Never is a hard word, but one of our professors has 
calculated that a given quantity of radium, after throwing 
out heat as I have stated for a thousand million years, would 
have lost only one-millionth part of its bulk. Others think the 
loss might be greater, say an ounce to a ton in ten thousand 
years, but in any case it is so infinitesimally small that we 
have no means of measuring it, and for practical purposes it 
does not exist/' 

SEEING THROUGH THE BONES OF THE HEAD. 

After this M. Curie took me into a darkened room where 
I saw quite plainly the light from the radium tube, a clear 
glow sufficient to read by if the tube were held near a printed 
page. And, of course, this was a very small quantity of radium, 
about six centigrammes (nine-tenths of a grain troy). 

" We estimate," said he, " that a decigramme of radium 
will illuminate a square decimeter (fifteen square inches) of 
surface sufficient for reading." 

" And a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of radium? " 

" A kilogram of radium would illuminate a room thirty 
feet square with a mild radiance. And the light would be 
much brighter if screens of sulphide of zinc were placed near 
the radium, for these are thrown by the metal into a brilliant 
phosphorescence.' ' 

" Then radium may be the light of the future ? " 

M. Curie shook his head. " I am afraid that we should 
pay rather dearly for such a light. There is first the money 
cost to be considered and then the likelihood that the people 
illuminated by radium would be also stricken with paralysis, 
blindness, and various nervous disorders. Possibly protective 
screens might be devised against these dangers, but it is too 
soon to think of that. For a long time to come the radium 
light will be only a laboratory wonder." 

After we had been in the darkness for some time M. Curie 
wrapped the radium tube in thick paper and put it in my hand 



THE WONDERS OF RADIUM. 263 

" Now," he said, " shut your eyes and press this against 
your right eyelid." 

I did as he bade me and straightway had the sensation 
of a strange diffused light outside my eye. M. Curie assured 
me, however, that the light was not outside but inside the eye, 
the radium rays having the property of making the liquids of 
the eye-ball self-luminous, a sort of internal phosphorescence 
being produced. He warned me that it would be dangerous 
to leave the radium against the eyelid very long, as a serious 
disturbance to the eyesight, or even blindness, might result. 

Another experiment consisted in placing the radium 
against the bone at the side of the forehead, and even in this 
position, with the eyes closed, a light was perceptible although 
fainter. Here the radium rays had acted upon the eyeball 
through the bones of the head. 

" It is possible," said M. Curie, " that this property of 
radium may be utilized in certain diseases of the eye. Dr. 
Emile Javal, one of our distinguished physicians, who is blind 
himself, has given this matter particular attention, and he 
thinks that radium may offer a precious means of diagnosis in 
cases of cataract, by showing whether the retina is or is not 
intact, and whether an operation will succeed. If a person 
blind from cataract can see the radium light as you have just 
seen it, then the eyesight of that person may be restored by 
removing the cataract. Otherwise it cannot be restored." 

WORTH THREE THOUSAND TIMES ITS WEIGHT IN PURE GOLD. 

As we returned to the laboratory I remarked that the 
quantity of radium in the various tubes I had seen was very 
small. 

" Of course it is small," he sighed; " there is very- little 
radium in the world. I mean very little that has been taken 
from the earth and purified." 

" How much is there ? " 

He thought a moment. " We have about one gramme 
(one-third of an ounce) in France, Germany may have one 
gramme, America has less than one gramme, and the rest 
of the world may perhaps have half a gramme. Four 



264 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

grammes in all would be an outside estimate; you could heap 
it all in a tablespoon." 

I suggested to M. Curie the possibility that some Ameri- 
can philanthropist might be inspired on reading his words to 
help the new cause. And I remarked that great things could 
doubtless be accomplished with some substantial quantity of 
radium, say a pound or two. 

He gave me an amused look and asked if I had any idea 
what a pound or two of radium, say a kilogram (two and one- 
fifth pounds), would cost? 

" Why, no/' said I, " no exact idea, but we have -rich 
men in America, and " 

" A kilogram of radium would cost — " He figured rapid- 
ly on a sheet of paper. " With the very cheapest methods 
that we have of purifying the crude material, it would cost 
about ten milllion francs. Under existing conditions radium 
is worth about three thousand times its weight in pure .gold/' 

" And yet there may be tons of it in the earth ? " 

M. Curie was not sure of this. " It is doubtful/' said he, 
" if there is very much radium in the earth, and what there 
is is so thinly scattered in the surrounding ore, mere traces 
of radium for tons of worthless rock, that the cost of extract- 
ing it is almost prohibitive. You will realize this when you 
visit our works at Ivry." 

These works I visited next day and found myself outside 
the walls of Paris, near the old Ivry Cemetery, where some 
unpretentious sheds serve for this important business of radi- 
um extraction. One of the head men met me, and explained 
step by step how they obtain this strange and elusive metal. 
First he showed me a lumpy reddish powder, sacks of it, 
brought from Bohemia by the ton, and constituting the raw 
material from which the radium is extracted. This powder 
is the refuse from uranium mines at Jachimsthal, that is what 
remains of the original uranite ore, pitch-blende, after the 
uranium has been removed. For years this refuse was re- 
garded as worthless, and was left to accumulate in heaps, tons 
of it, quite at the disposal of whoever chose to cart it away. 
Now that it is known to contain the rarest and most precious 



THE WONDERS OF RADIUM. 265 

substance in the world, it goes without saying that the owners 
have begun to put a price on it. 

A GRAMME OF RADIUM TO EIGHT TONS OF ORE. 

My informant referred with proper pride to the difficul- 
ties that had confronted them when they started these radium 
works in 1 90 1. It was a new problem in practical chemistry 
to bring together infinitesimal traces of a metal lost in tons 
of debris; it was like searching for specks of dust hidden 
in a sand heap, or for drops of perfume scattered in a river. 
Still, they went at it with good heart, for the end justified 
the effort. If it took a ton of uranite dust to yield as much 
radium as would half fill a doll's thimble, then the thing to do 
was to have many tons of this dust sent on from Bohemia and 
patiently to accumulate, after months of handling, various 
pinches of radium, a few centigrammes, then a few deci- 
grammes, and finally, some day, who could tell, they might 
get as much as a gramme. This was a distant prospect, to be 
sure, yet with infinite pains, and all the resources of chemistry, 
it might be attained. Well, now they had attained it, and at 
this time, he said, some eight tons of uranite detritus had 
passed through the caldrons and great glass jars and muddy 
barrels of the Ivry establishment, had been boiled and filtered 
and decanted and crystallized, with much fuming of acids 
and the steady glow of furnaces; and out of it all, for the 
twenty-four months' effort, there had come just about a 
gramme of practically pure chloride of radium, enough white 
powder to fill a salt spoon. 

Without going far into these refining processes, it may 
be noted that the radium exists here in combination with lead 
and chalk and silica and iron and various other things thai 
must be gotten rid of one by one, in a series of reactions and 
operations that are complicated and costly. For days the 
powder must simmer over a slow fire with water and soda; 
then it must be decanted into big barrels, where a sort of mud 
settles; then this mud must be washed and rewashed, and 
finally put back on the fire to simmer again with carbonate of 
sada. Then comes more decanting and the settling of more 



266 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

mud and the repeated washing of this, followed by treatment 
with hydro-chloric acid, which gives a colorless liquid, con- 
taining small quantities of radium. 

To isolate these small quantities from the rest is now the 
chemist's object, which is attained in a series of reactions and 
crystallizations that finally leave the precious chloride (or 
bromide) of radium much purified. In each crystallization the 
valuable part remains chiefly in the crystals, which become 
progressively richer in radium and smaller in bulk, until, fin- 
ally, you have the product of six weeks' manipulation there at 
the bottom of a porcelain dish, no bigger than a saucer, some 
twenty-five grammes of white crystals, and these at so low an 
intensity (about 2,000) that the greater part will be refined 
away by M. Curie himself, as we have seen, in succeding 
crystallizations, and at the very end there will be left only 
a few centigrammes (at 1,500,000) ; what would cover the 
point of a knife blade, to show for a ton or so of uranite 
powder and months of work. 

Experiments with radium radiations. 

When next I saw M. Curie he had just returned from 
London, where he had lectured before the Royal Institution. 
His hands were much peeled, and very sore from too much 
contact with radium, and for several days he had been unable 
to dress himself; but he took it good-naturedly, and pro- 
ceeded to describe some of the experiments he had made be- 
fore British scientists. 

In order to demonstrate that radium throws off heat 
continually, he took two glass vessels, one containing a ther- 
mometer and a tube of radium, the other containing a ther- 
mometer and no radium. Both vessels were closed with cotton 
and it was, presently seen that the thermomenter in the vessel 
containing the radium registered constantly three degrees 
(Cent.) (5.4°F.) higher than the thermometer which was not 
so influenced. 

The most striking experiment presented by M. Curie in 
his London lecture was one devised by him to prove the ex- 
istence of radium emanations, a kind of gaseous product (quite 



THE WONDERS OF RADIUM. 267 

different from the rays) which this extraordinary metal seems 
to throw off constantly as it throws off heat and light. These 
emanations may be regarded as an invisible vapor of radium, 
like water vapor, only infinitely more subtle, which settles upon 
all objects that it approaches and confers upon them, for a time 
at least, the mysterious properties of radium itself. Thus 
the yellow powder sulphide of zinc bursts into a brilliant 
glow under the stimulus of radium emanations, and this effect 
is due to the emanations and not to the rays. 

SIR WILLIAM CROOKES's SPINTHARISCOPE. 

In talking with Sir William Crookes, M. Curie was in- 
terested to learn that the English scientist had just devised 
a curious little instrument which he has named the spinthari- 
scope and which allows one to actually see the emanations 
from radium and to realize as never before the extraordinary 
atomic disintegration that is going on ceaselessly in this 
strange metal. The spinthariscope is a small microscope that 
allows one to look at a tiny fragment of radium, about one- 
twentieth of a milligramme, supported on a little wire over a 
screen spread with sulphide of zinc. 

The experiment must be made in a darkened room after 
the eye has gradually acquired its greatest sensitiveness to 
light. To the eye thus sensitive and looking intently through 
the lenses the screen appears like a heaven of flashing meteors 
among which stars shine forth suddenly and die away. Near 
the central radium speck the fire shower is most brilliant, while 
towards the rim of the circle it grows fainter. And this goes 
on continuously as the metal throws off its emanations ; these 
myriad bursting blazing stars are the emanations, at least we 
may assume it, and become visible as the scattered radium 
dust or radium vapor impinges speck by speck upon the screen 
which, for each tiny fragment, flashes back a responsive phos- 
phorescence. M. Curie spoke of this vision, that was really 
contained within the area of a two-cent piece, as one of the 
most beautiful and impressive he had ever witnessed ; it was 
as if he had been allowed to assist at the birth of a universe 
»— or at the death of a molecule. 



268 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Dwelling upon the extreme attenuation of these radium 
emanations, M. Curie mentioned a recent experiment, in which 
he had used a platinum box pierced by two holes so extremely 
small that the box would retain a vacuum, yet not small enough 
to resist the passage of radium emanations, 

RENDERING OTHER SUBSTANCES RADIO-ACTIVE. 

In view of the extreme rarity and costliness of radium, 
it is evident that its emanations may be put to many important 
uses in and out of the laboratory, since they bestow upon in- 
different objects — a plate, a piece of iron, an old shoe, any- 
thing — the very properties of radium itself. Thus a scientist 
or a doctor unable to procure the metal radium may easily 
experiment with a bit of wood or glass rendered radio-active, 
that is, charged by radium emanations, and capable of replac- 
ing the original metal as long as the charge keeps its potency. 
This period has been determined by the Curies after observa- 
tions extending over weeks and months, and applied to all 
sorts of substances, copper, aluminum, lead, rubber, wax, 
celluliod, paraffin, no less than fifty in all, the resulting con- 
clusions being formulated in a precise law as follows : 

( i ) All substances may be rendered radio-active through 
the influence of radium emanations. 

(2) Substances thus influenced retain their induced 
radio-activity very much longer when guarded in a small en- 
closure through which the emanations cannot pass (say a 
sealed glass tube) than when not so guarded. In the former 
case their radio-activity diminishes one-half every four days. 
In the latter case it diminishes one-half every twenty-eight 
minutes. 

SOME ODD EFFECTS OF RADIUM. 

I must pass rapidly over various other wonders of radium 
that M. Curie laid before me in subsequent conversations. 
There is matter here for a whole book, and new matter is 
accumulating every week as the outcome of new investiga- 
tions. Even in the chemistry of radium, which is practically 
an unexplored field, owing to the scarcity and costliness of 



THE WONDERS OF RADIUM. 269 

the metal, there are various facts to be noted, as these : that 
radium changes the color of phosphorous from yellow to red ; 
that radium rays increase the production of ozone in certain 
cases; that a small quantity of radium dissolved in water 
throws off hydrogen constantly by causing a disintegration of 
the water, the oxygen released being absorbed in some un- 
known molecular combination. Also that a solution of radium 
gives a violet or brownish tint to a glass vessel containing it, 
this tint being permanent, unless the glass be heated red hot. 
Here, by the way, is an application of importance in the arts, 
for radium may thus be used to modify the colors of glass 
and crystals, possibly of gems. It is furthermore established 
that radium offers a ready means of distinguishing real from 
imitation diamonds, since it causes the real stones to burst 
into a brilliant phosphorescence when brought near them in a 
darkened room, while it has scarcely any such effect upon false 
stones. M. Curie made this experiment recently at a recep- 
tion in Lille, to the great delight of the guests. 

In concluding the physical and chemical side of my sub- 
ject, I must not fail to point out this singular fact: that a 
given quantity of radium, no matter how intense, may be shorn 
of its power to emit heat and light and of its other 'properties, 
indeed, may be rendered quite inert, at least for the time, 
either by submitting it (in solid form) to a prolonged heat- 
ing at about 1,000 degrees (Cent.), or by keeping it for a 
number of hours in a vacuum. Why this treatment should 
effect such a change is not understood, or why the radium thus 
despoiled should recover its full energy by the gradual lapse 
of time, say two or three months. These must be numbered 
among the many mysteries of the subject. 

THE EFFECTS QF RADIUM ON ORGANIC LIFE. 

Coming now to what may be the most important prop- 
erties of radium, that is, those which influence animal life, 
we may follow M. Curie's advice and visit the Pasteur Insti- 
tute, where for some months now a remarkable series of radi- 
um tests have been in progress. In the second courtyard at 
the left, there where the hydrophobia dogs are always yelping, 



27O BEST THOUGHTS OE BEST THINKERS. 

we shall find M. Danysz clad in his laboratory blouse and 
ready to explain, as far as he is able, the extraordinary effects 
of radium upon rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, and other small 
creatures that are exposed to the rays of this strange metal. 
One may say briefly that these effects have usually been de- 
structive, the animals treated have nearly always died, but 
there is much in the manner of their death that merits our 
attention, since here seems to lie a promise of new knowledge 
touching the very mysteries of death and of life. 

MICE KILLED BY EXPOSURE TO RADIUM. 

Glancing rapidly over these experiments, it is at once 
apparent that radium has formidable powers of destruction, 
and can by its mere presence annihilate animal life or plant 
life. Here is one instance among many: On May 13, 1903, 
a little chloride of radium (five centigrammes) was suspended 
over the cage of eight white mice, two parent mice and six 
little ones, and was left there for three days and then removed. 
The mice continued to eat and run about as usual until May 
16, when the little ones began to lose the fur on their backs. 
On the 19th their backs were quite bare of fur, although their 
heads remained covered, which gave them the appearance of 
little white lions. On the 21st the little ones became blind, 
although they continued to eat well. On the 23d one of the 
little ones died. On the 24th three died. On the 25th the 
remaining two' died. On the 5th of June both the parent mice 
became blind. On the 28th both the parent mice died. This 
was the work of a few grains of radium in a tiny glass tube. 

In another case two full-grown mice were exposed contin- 
uously to the same quantity (five centigrammes) of radium 
for ten days. For nine days they remained perfectly well, 
although they showed fear, but on the tenth day they died 
without losing their fur. This experiment was repeated with 
another pair of mice under the same conditions, except that the 
radium used was only half as intense, and in this case the 
mice died in twenty-two days and twenty-six days, respec- 
tively, and on the twentieth day they began to lose their fur. 
M. Danysz draws important conclusion touching the nature 



THE WONDERS OF RADIUM. 27 1 

of the rays from the fact that the mice did or did not lose 
their fur. 

Similar experiments, were made upon other animals under 
varying conditions, the result being almost invariably death 
after a longer or shorter time, according to the animals' resist- 
ance. Rabbits were killed, guinea pigs were killed, embryo 
chickens exposed to radium rays during incubation (some on 
the first day, some on the tenth, some on the last day) were 
all killed, plants were killed, and M. Danysz is convinced that 
all animals, probably all forms of life, would succumb to the 
destructive force of radium if employed in sufficient quanti- 
ties. 

" I have no doubt," said he, " that a kilogram of radium 
would be sufficient to destroy the population of Paris, grant- 
ing that they came within its influence. Men and women 
would be killed just as these mice were killed. They would 
feel nothing during their exposure to the radium nor realize 
that they were in any danger. And weeks would pass after 
their exposure before anything would happen. Then gradu- 
ally the skin would begin to peel off, and their bodies would 
become one great sore. Then they would become blind. Then 
they would die from paralysis and congestion of the spinal 
cord." 

Despite this rather gloomy prospect, certain experiments 
at the Pasteur institute may encourage us to believe that, for 
all its menace of destruction, radium is destined to bring sub- 
stantial benefits to suffering humankind. The substance of 
these favorable experiments is that while animal life may un- 
doubtedly suffer great harm from radium when used in ex- 
cess or wrongly used (the same is true of strychnine), it may 
also derive immense good from radium when used within 
proper bounds, these to be set when we have gained a fuller 
knowledge of the subject. Meantime it is worthy of note that 
some of M. Danysz's animals, when exposed to the radium 
for a short time, or to radium of lower intensity, or to radium 
at a greater distance, have not perished, but have seemed to 
thrive under the treatment. A rabbit, for instance, under- 



2/2 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

went this attenuated radium treatment, with the result that its 
fur, instead of falling off, grew more abundantly. 

ARRESTING ORGANIC DEVELOPMENT BY RADIUM. 

But the most startling experiment performed thus far at 
the Pasteur Institute is one undertaken by M. Danysz, Febru- 
ary 3, 1903, when he placed three or four dozen little worms 
that live in flour, the larvae Epbestia kuebnielle, in a glass 
flask where they were exposed for a few hours to the rays 
of radium. He placed a like number of larvae in a control 
flask, where there was no radium, and he left enough flour in 
each flask for the larvse to live upon. After several weeks it 
was found that most of the larvae in the radium flask had been 
killed, but that a few of them had escaped the destructive 
action of the rays by crawling away to distant corners of the 
flask, where they were still living. But they were living as 
larvae, not as moths, whereas in the natural course they should 
have become moths long before, as was seen by the control 
flask, where the larvae had all changed into moths, and these 
had hatched their eggs into other larvae and these had pro- 
duced other moths. All of which made it clear that the radi- 
um rays had arrested the development of these little worms. 

More weeks passed and still three or four of the larvae 
lived, and four full months after the original exposure I saw 
a larva alive and wriggling while its contemporary larvae 
in the other jar had long since passed away as aged moths, 
leaving generations of moths' eggs and larvae to witness this 
miracle, for here was a larva, venerable among his kind, a 
patriarch Epbestia kuebniella, that had actually lived through 
three times the span of life accorded to his fellows and that 
still showed no sign of changing into a moth. It was very 
much as if a young man of twenty-one should keep the ap- 
pearance of twenty-one for two hundred and fifty years! 

MODIFICATION OF SPECIES BY RADIUM. 

Not less remarkable than these are some recent experi- 
ments made by M. Bohn at the biological laboratories of the 
Sorbonne, his conclusions being that radium may so far modi- 
fy various lower forms of life as to actually produce " mon- 



THE WONDERS OF RADIUM. 273 

stars," abnormal deviations from the original type of the 
species. Thus tadpole monsters had been formed from 
tadpoles exposed four days after birth to radium rays. 
Some of these monsters lived for twenty-three days, and 
would doubtless have lived longer, had they been exposed 
to the rays for a shorter time. No changes occur in the 
tadpoles treated except at the transition points of growth, 
as on the eighth day, when the breathing tentacles are 
covered by gills in the normal tadpole, but are not so covered 
in the monsters formed after radium treatment. These 
monsters take on a new form, with an increasing atrophy 
of the tail and a curious wrinkling of the tissues back of the 
head; in fact, they may be said to develop a new breathing 
apparatus, quite different from that of ordinary tadpoles. 

M. Bohn has obtained similar results with eggs of the 
toad and eggs of the sea urchin, monsters resulting in both 
cases and continuing to live for a number of days or weeks 
after exposure to the radium. Furthermore, he has been 
able to accomplish with radium what Professor Loeb did with 
saline solutions, that is, to cause the growth of unfecundated 
eggs of the sea-urchin, and to advance these through several 
stages of their development. In other words, he has used 
radium to create life where there would have been no life but 
for this strange stimulation. 

M. Bohn assured me of his conviction that we may in 
the future be able to produce new species of insects, moths, 
butterflies, perhaps birds and fishes, by simply treating the 
eggs with radium rays, the result being that interesting 
changes will be effected in the coloring and adornment. He 
also believes that with greater quantities of radium at our 
disposal and a fuller understanding of its properties, it may 
be possible to produce new species among larger creatures, 
mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, etc. It is merely a question of 
degree, for if new types can be produced in one species why- 
may they not be produced in another? 



274 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

WHAT RADIUM MAY DO FOR MEDICAL SCIENCE. 

It remains to mention certain important services, that 
radium may render in the cure of bodily ills, notably of lupus 
and other skin diseases. Here is a great new field full of 
promise, yet one that must be considered with guarded 
affirmation, lest false hopes, be aroused. It is too soon as yet 
to say more than this, that distinguished doctors speak with 
confidence of excellent results that may be looked for from 
the radium treatment. Dr. Danlos, for instance, has used 
the radium rays, on lupus patients at the St. Louis Hospital 
in Paris for over a year, and in several cases has accomplished 
apparent cures. The radium used is enclosed between two 
small disks of copper and aluminum, the whole being about 
the size of a silver dollar. The aluminum disk, which is 
very thin, is pressed against the affected part and left there 
for fifteen minutes, that is all there is to the treatment, ex- 
cept cleansing, bandaging, etc. Day after day, for weeks or 
months, this contact with the disk is continued, and' after a 
period of irritation the sores heal, leaving healthy white 
scars. Some patients thus treated have gone for months 
without a relapse, but it is too soon to declare the cures ab- 
solute. They look like absolute cures, that is all Dr. Danlos 
will say, and if time proves that they are absolute cures, then 
radium will do for lupus patients all that Finsen's lamps do 
and will do it more quickly, more simply, and with no cum- 
bersome and costly apparatus. It may be objected that radi- 
um also is costly, but the answer is that radi-um will 
probably become cheaper as the supply increases and 
as the processes of extracting it are perfected. Furthermore, 
the effects of radium may be obtained, as already stated, by 
the use of indifferent bodies rendered radio-active, so that 
lupus patients may be treated with a piece of wood or a 
piece of glass possessed for the moment of the virtues of 
radium. And certain kinds of cancer may be similarly 
treated; indeed, a London physician has already reported 
a case of cancer cured by radium. 

These are possibilities, not certainties, and there are 



the; wonders of radium. 275 

others. It appears that radium has a bactericidal action in 
certain cases, and it would therefore seem reasonable that 
air rendered radio-active may benefit sufferers from lung 
troubles if breathed into the lungs, or that water rendered 
radio-active may benefit sufferers from stomach troubles if 
taken into the stomach. It goes without saying that in all 
these cases the use of radium must be attended with extreme 
precautions, so that harmful effects may be avoided. 

Just as I was leaving Paris I learned of an interesting 
and significant new fact about radium, one that greatly im- 
pressed M. Curie, namely, that the air from deep borings 
in the earth is found to be radio-active, and that the waters 
from mineral springs are radio-active. This would seem to 
indicate the presence of radium in the earth in considerable 
quantities, and that would mean more abundant and cheaper 
radium in the not distant future. One of the things to be 
hoped for now is the discovery of a single simple reaction 
by which radium may be easily separated from the dross that 
contains it, and any day the chemists may put their hands on 
such a reaction. 

And then — well, it is best to avoid sweeping state- 
ments, but there is certainly reason to believe that we are 
entering upon a domain of new, strange knowledge and draw- 
ing near to some of nature's most hallowed secrets. 



LACONICS. 

BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT IDEAS. 

A great idea is usually original to more than one discoverer. — 
Great ideas come when the world needs them. — They surround the 
world's ignorance and press for admission. — A. Phelps. 

A fixed idea is like the iron rod which sculptors put in their statues. 
It impales and sustains. — Taine. 

After all has been said that can be said about the widening influ- 
ence of ideas, it remains true that they would hardly be such strong 
agents, unless they were taken in a solvent of feeling. The great world 
struggle of developing thought is continually foreshadowed in the strug- 
gle of the affections, seeking a justification for love and hope. 

— George Eliot. 



276 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Ideas are the great warriors of the world, and a war that has no 
idea behind it is simply a brutality. — Garfield. 

To the thinker, the most trifling external object often suggests 
ideas, which extend, link after link, from earth to heaven. 

— Bulwer-Lytton. 

To have icDeas is to gather flowers; to think is to weave them into 
garlands. — Madame Swetchine. 

He who wishes to fulfill his mission in the world must be a man 
of one idea, that is of one great overmastering purpose, overshadowing 
All his aims, and guiding and controlling his entire life. — Bate. 

Ideas make their way in silence like the waters that, filtering behind 
the rocks of the Alps, loosen them from the mountains on which they 
rest. — D'A ubigne* 

When young men are beginning life, the most important period, it is 
often said, is that in which their habits are formed. — That is a very 
important period. — But the period in which the ideas of the young are 
formed and adopted is more important still. — For the ideal with which 
you go forth determines the nature, so far as you are concerned, of 
everything you meet.— H. W. Beecher. 

Events are only the shells of ideas ; and often it Is the fluent thought 
of ages that is crystallized in a moment by the stroke of a pen or the 
point of a bayonet. — B. H. Chapin. 

An idea, like a ghost, according to the common notion of ghosts, 
must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself. — Dickens. 

Ideas, though vivid and real, are often indefinite, and are shy of 
the close furniture of words. — Tupper. 

Bred to think as well as to speak by rote, we furnish our minds as 
we furnish our houses, with the fancies of others, and according to the 
mode and age of our country. We pick up our ideas and notions in 
common conversation as in schools. — Bolingbroke. 



" He who ascends to mountain tops shall find 

Their loftiest peaks most wrapped in clouds and snow. 
He who surpasses or subdues mankind 

Must look down on the hate of those below. 
Though high above the sun of glory glow, 

And far beneath the earth and ocean spread, 
Round him are icy rocks, and rudely blow 

Contending tempests on his naked head, 

And thus reward the toil which to those summits led." 

— Byron, Childe, Harold. 



ritchey's wonderful discovery. 277 



RITCHEY'S WONDERFUL DISCOVERY. 

Marks an Epoch in Astronomical Science. — Proves 
the Nebular Theory oe Creation. 

Prof. G. W. Ritchey, of the Yerkes Observatory, has 
made a discovery of startling significance and tremendous 
importance in the history of the evolution of the universe. 

In effect the brilliant astronomer has just finished ob- 
servations which prove the truth of the celebrated nebulary 
theory of creation announced by the famous Frenchman, La 
Place, and of the widely entertained belief that the solar 
system, and even star clusters, have been formed by millions 
of years of slow evolution from great bodies of gaseous mat- 
ter floating in the inconceivable abysses of space. 

Prof. Ritchey's observations go even farther than this. 
They go to show the truth of the theory of Herbert Spenser 
that the entire universe is passing through a flux of evolution 
and dissolution — that nebular gas itself is developed by 
mighty changes in the stars themselves — that stars are sud- 
denly expanded by explosion, or otherwise, into enormous 
masses of thin gas, infinitely more tenuous than atmospheric 
air, and that this gas again contracts and is converted into 
suns like our own, with probably trains of attendant planets. 

In short, Prof. Ritchey has proved that a nebula, with a 
star for a nucleus, changes its shape and the quantity of light 
it emits, and that these changes are so rapid as to be observ- 
able within the compass of a few hours. 

This is one of the greatest discoveries in the history of 
astronomy, and Prof. Ritchey alone deserves all the credit. 
It is the first work of absolutely great magnitude done at the 
big Yerkes Observatory, and it will insure to Prof. Ritchey 
a foremost place among the world-renowned men of science. 



2?8 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Astronomers have long believed that the nebulae — those 
great masses of luminous gas existing throughout space at 
incalculable distances from the earth — were the matrixes 
of solar systems and star clusters like our own. But no ob- 
server had been able to see the slighest sign of change in the 
structure. Of course, it has been believed that change there 
must be, but nobody had been able to prove the fact. 

The celestial object upon which Prof. Ritchey has made 
his observations is the mysterious star, Nova of Perseus 
which suddenly appeared last February in the northern sky, 
blazing with strange light in a place where there had been 
no star before. Its light rapidly increased until it became 
a star of the first magnitude. Then it gradually faded away 
until now it is only of the sixteenth magnitude. At present 
it is altogether invisible to the unaided vision, and if it con- 
tinues to diminish in brilliance it will soon be invisible even 
in the great Yerkes telescope — the most powerful in the 
world — through which no star below the seventeenth magni- 
tude can be seen. 

To account for these new stars (the star of Bethlehem 
is supposed to have been one of them) many theories have 
been held by astronomers. In the instance of Nova of Per- 
seus, the present star, some observers believed its increasing 
brilliance was caused by the star speeding toward the earth 
with great rapidity, and that its diminution was due to a re- 
verse process. This theory, however, was soon abandoned. 

Prof. Ritchey says that the star is certainly not less than 
28 years from the earth — that is, a distance of about 117,- 
313,920,000,000 miles. This, however, is its minimum dis- 
tance. It cannot be much nearer. On the other hand, it may 
be a thousand times as far away, a distance to be measured 
in hundreds of quadrillions of miles. 

Were it nearer than the distance which light traverses 
in a space of 20 years — at the rate of about 186,000 miles 
a second — it would show a parallax, but no parallax can be 
detected, although sought for sedulously. The conclusion, 
therefore, is that all the marvelous phenomena seen in the new 
star — its sudden blazing up and its subsequent dying out 



ritchey's wonderful discovery. 279 

— occurred at least 20 years ago, or even thousands of years 
ago. 

Another theory was advanced to account for the strange 
phenomenon. This was that the star had been a dark body 
which had been converted into a glowing nebula, by friction. 
This was also abandoned, and the astronomers at last settled 
upon the theory that the new light had been caused by a 
tremendous explosion proportionate in size to the size of the 
star. This latter theory is now borne out by Prof. Ritchey' s 
observations. 

On the night of September 20, 1901, Prof. Ritchey 
photographed Nova of Perseus by means of the twenty-four- 
inch reflector at the observatory. The negative disclosed the 
fact that the star was surrounded by a nebula — a fact which 
had been previously shown by another observer. But on the 
plate made by Prof. Ritchey there were two fairly dense 
wisps of nebulosity toward the west with a curve in the 
north, merging into the convolutions of the nebula. This 
was a startling fact, but Prof. R itchy patiently waited for 
a favorable night to secure another negative. The looked-for 
opportunity came Wednesday night, November 13. 

The plate of September 20 had been exposed three hours 
and fifty minutes. The reflector is operated by the most deli- 
cately adjusted clockwork in existence. But so eager was 
Prof. Ritchey to- secure an absolutely accurate negative that 
he decided on Wednesday night to control the apparatus him- 
self. For seven hours he exposed his plate to the light of 
the mysterious star, and through all that time he sat with 
either hand on a thumb-screw watching the star and keeping 
it true to the crossed spider lines, on the glass. 

When he looked at the negative he observed a fact in 
which he at once recognized the proof so long sought and so 
ardently wished for by observers everywhere. The spots of 
density in the west field of the nebula had moved. 

Never before had this amazing fact been found, and 
Prof. Ritchey who at once saw the immeasurable importance 
of the marvelous discovery he had made, was gratified be- 
yonds words with the unqualified success with which his 



280 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

patience and perseverance, as well as his daring and original 
conception, had been rewarded. 

The conclusions, which follow from this truly epoch- 
making discovery are stupendous. They lead to the positive 
knowledge that in the unspeakable vast gulfs of space nature 
is slowly molding suns and planets and solar systems and 
star clusters; that nebulae are converted into suns and suns 
into nebulae; that catastrophes involving unthinkable quan- 
tities of matter are by no means rare in the infinite womb 
of space, and that out of the chaos and confusion thus pro- 
duced order and symmetry emerge after ages of evolution. 

Prof. Ritchey's discovery is nothing less than an actual 
proof of the fact that the structure of the nebulae is subject 
to observable change — the one fact of celestial mechanics 
the proof of which has been most ardently desired. 461 



END OF A WORLD. 

The new star appeared at the beginning of the year 
1 90 1. On February 21 it suddenly shone forth in the con- 
stellation of Perseus, remained visible for some time, then 
grew pale with more or less fluctuations, seeming to return 
into infinite space whence it had come. Incidentally, this was 
the twenty-seventh star to appear in this fashion within a 
period of two thousand years. The new star, which was a 
splendid specimen of this kind of mysterious apparition, was 
seen, followed and studied by official as well as unofficial ob- 
servers. Finally, when the " Nova," having grown too pale 
for observation, was about to be abandoned, there came an 
unexpected piece of news that caused it again to become the 
order of the day. It was the discovery announced by Messrs. 
Flammarion and Antoniadi, of the Juvisy Observatory, that 
the light of the new star in Perseus contained hitherto un- 



END OF A WORLD. 28 1 

known rays, detectable only by means of photography, and 
ranging probably very high, higher even than the ultra-violet 
rays. 

This phenomenon must have been seen by all the uni- 
verses by which we are surrounded. It must have been a 
real explosion of light, as within the short space of a hundred 
hours the star became about twenty thousand times more 
luminous than it had been before. As there is every reason 
to suppose that its heat was in proportion to its light, the 
cataclysm caused in its surroundings can easily be imagined. 

What is the explanation of this catastrophe? As a mat- 
ter of fact, nothing is so far known with certainty, although 
several hypotheses have been advanced in its explanation. 
But all these hypotheses, though differing as to the causes of 
the catastrophe, agree as to its terrible consequences. 

One of the first hypotheses advanced is that of the colli- 
sion of two extinct stars. Owing to the transformation of 
motion into heat and light, the collision of the two dead stars 
with their train of likewise dead planets resulted in a con- 
flagration. Camille Flammarion, in his " End of the World/' 
gives the following description of such a spectacle : " Then, 
in the profound night of space, these two formidable globes, 
"by their prodigious collision, suddenly engendered an im- 
mense celestial fire, a vast gaseous nebula, that first oscillated 
like a will-o'-the-wisp, and then disappeared in unknown 
heavens. Its temperature was several millions of degrees. 
All that had been land, water, air, minerals, plants, men! 
* * * all turned into fire. It was the resurrection of visi- 
ble nature." Indeed, in this case, far from being a sinister 
event, the phenomenon might be regarded as a bonfire an- 
nouncing the birth of a new world! 

Not so, if the second hypothesis be correct. This, too, 
admits the collision of two heavenly bodies, with the differ- 
ence, however, that it supposes one of them to be a sun and 
the other some kind of cosmic nebula. The result would be 



282 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

about the same as in the preceding case, though more disas- 
trous in its consequences. For in this case we have no 
longer to do with dead worlds but possibly with a universe 
overtaken in full life by a terrible and inexorable decree — 
the more terrible as the event was, perhaps, long before its 
occurrence forseen by the planetary inhabitants of the 
threatened system. Those situated on the other side of the 
central sun could watch the destruction of the planets whose 
orbits brought them first in collision with the nebula, thinking 
with agony of the horrible death that awaited them in a few 
moments. 

A third hypothesis suggests in explanation a kind of ex- 
plosion of the solar surface caused by the expansion of its 
incandescent gases. The consequences would be about the 
same as in the second hypothesis, a horrible death, less the 
long agony that characterizes the former. One fine day the 
sun would appear greatly disturbed, spreading an unbearable 
light and heat all over the sky, and in a few moments there 
would not be even the dead left to witness the annihilation 
of their universe. 

These are the three principal theories, the others leading 
to the same or nearly the same results. But these terrible oc- 
currences, which we now observe and discuss, may after all 
not belong to the present time, but long since be lost in an 
immemorable past; and there where we suppose all these 
agonies in connection with the phenomenon now reigns a 
perfect calm, or a new era of joyous life has been set- 
ting in. In fact, what we saw is but the aspect, the light 
of the event which perhaps occurred several centuries ago! 
Light, which we know to travel 186,000 miles in a second, 
requires more than four years to reach us from the nearest 
star, and from the others ten, twenty, thirty, one hundred, 
nay, millions of years. The light of the " Nova " of 1901 
had perhaps travelled many centuries before reaching us, and 
what we saw are the rays it darted out in its terrible spasms 
of the past. — Londsberg. 



WHO-WHEN-WHSRE SERIES. 283 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES.— 6. 

WILLIAM BASSE. 
1613-1648. 

Renowned Spencer, lie a thought more nigh 

To learned Chaucer, and rare Beaumont lie 

A little nearer Spenser, to make room 

For Shakespeare in your three-fold, four-fold tomb. 

— On Shakespeare. 



SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT. 
1605- 1668. 

Since knowledge is but sorrow's spy, 

It is not safe to know. — The Just Italian. Act V , Sec. v. 



SIR JOHN DENHAM. 
1615-1668. 

Though with those streams he no resemblance hold, 

Whose foam is amber and their gravel gold; 

His genuine and less guilty wealths explore, 

Search not his bottom, but survey his shore. — Cooper's Hill. 

O, could I flow like thee, and make thy stream 

My great example, as it is my theme ! 

Though deep, yet clear ; though gentle, yet not dull ; 

Strong without rage; without o'erflowing full. — Cooper's Hill. 

Actions of the last age are like almanacs of the last year. 

—The Soph. 



THOMAS DECKER. 
» 1641. 

The best of men 
That e'er wore earth about him was a sufferer; 
A soft, meek, patient humble, tranquil spirit. 
The first true gentleman that ever breathed. — Part I, Act I, Sc. 12 

And though mine arm should conquer twenty worlds, 
There's a lean fellow beats all conquerors. — Old Fortunatus. 



284 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Of the offspring of the gentilman Jafeth, come 
Habraham, Moyses, Aaron, and the profettys; and also 
the Kyng of the right lyne of Mary, of whom that 
gentilman Jhesus was borne. 

— Julia Berners, Heraldic Blazonry. 
We are ne'er like angels till our passion dies. — Part II, Act I, Sc. 2. 
Honest labour bears a lovely face. — Patient Grissell, Act I, Sc. 1. 



ABRAHAM COWLEY. 
1618-1667. 

What shall I do to be forever known, 

And make the age to come my own? — The Motto. 

His time is forever, everywhere his place. — Friendship in absence. 

His faith, perhaps, in some nice tenets might 

Be wrong; his life, I'm sure, was in the right. 

— On the Death of Crashaw. 
For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight, 
He can't be wrong whose life is in the right. 

— Pope, Essay on Man, Bp. Ill, Line 306. 

A mighty pain to love it is, 

And 't is a pain that pain to miss; 

But of all pains, the greatest pain 

It is to love, but love in vain. — Gold. 

Nothing is there to come, and nothing past, 

But an eternal now does always last. — Davideis, Vol. I, Book I. 

One of our poets (which is it?) speaks of an ever- 
lasting now. — Southey, The Doctor, Ch. XXV, P. 1. 

Words that weep and tears that speak. — The Prophet. 



EDMUND WALLER. 
1605-1687. 

The soul's dark cottage, battered and decayed, 

Lets in new light through chinks that time has made. 

Stronger by weakness, wiser men become, 

As they draw nearer to their eternal home. — Divine Poesy. 

A narrow compass ! and yet there 

Dwelt all that's good, and all that's fair: 

Give me but what this riband bound, 

Take all the rest the sun goes round. — On a Girdle. 

Poets lose half the praise they should have got, 

Could it be known what they discreetly blot. — 

— On Roscommon's Translation of Horace De Arte Poetica. 
Could we forbear dispute, and practice love, 
We should agree as angels do above. — Divine Love, Canto III. 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES. 2»5 

JOHN MILTON. 
1 608- 1 674. 

Paradise Lost. 

Of Man's first disobedience and the fruit 
Of ^hat for hidden tiv.e, whose mortal taste 
Brought death into the world and all our woe. — Book I, Line v. 

What in me is dark 
Illumine, what is low raise and support; 
That to the height of this great argument 
I may assert eternal Providence, 
And justify the ways of God to men. — Line 22. 

But vindicate the ways of God to man. — Pope. Line 16. 

What though the field be lost? 
All is not lost; th' unconquerable will, 
And study of revenge, immortal hate, 
And courage never to submit or yield. — Line 105. 

Awake, arise, or be forever fallen! — Line 330. 

Who overcomes 
By force, hath overcome but half his foe. — Line 648. 

Let none admire 
That riches grow in hell ; that soil may best 
Deserve the precious bane. — Line 690. 

Back to thy punishment, 
False fugitive, and to thy speed add wings. — Bk. II, Line 699. 

Hail, holy light! offspring of heaven's first-born.— Bk. Ill, Line 1. 
Imparadis'd in one another's arms. — Bk. IV, Line 506. 

Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth 

Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep. — Bk. IV, Line t?J. 

Hail wedded love, mysterious law, true source 
Of human offspring. — Bk. IV, Line 750. 

Good, the more 
Communicated, more abundant grows. — Bk. V, Line 71. 

To know 
That which before us lies in daily life, 
Is the prime wisdom. — Bk. VIII, Line 192. 

Revenge, at first though sweet, 
Bitter ere long back on itself recoils. — Bk. IX, Line 171. 

For solitude sometimes is best society, 

And short retirement urges sweet return. — Bk. IX, Lim 240. 

Nor love thy life, nor hate; but what thou livest 

Live well; how long or short permit to heaven. — Bk. IX, Line 553. 



286 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Paradise Regained. 

Beauty stands 
In the admiration of weak minds 
Led captive. — Bk. II, Line 220. 

Rocks whereon greatest men have oftest wreck'd. — Bk, II, Line 228. 
Of whom to be disprais'd were no small praise. — Bk. Ill, Line 56. 

The childhood shows the man 
As morning shows the day. — Bk. IV, Line 220. 

The child is father to the man. — Wordsworth. 
Deep versed in books, and shallow in himself. — Bk. IV, Line 327. 

Samson Agonistes 

Just are the ways of God, 
And justifiable to men; 

Unless there be who think not God at all. — Line 293. 
What boots it at one gate to make defense, 
And at another to let in the foe? — Line 560. 
He's gone, and who knows how he may report 
Thy words by adding fuel to the flame? — Line 1350. 
For evil news rides post, while good news baits. — Line 1538. 

Comus. 

Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot, 
Which men call Earth. — Line 5. 

That golden key 
That opes the palace of eternity. — Line 13. 

From out the purple grape 
Crushed the sweet poison of misused wine. — Line 46. 
These my sky-robes spun out of Iris' woof. — Line 83. 
O welcome pure-eyed Faith, white-handed Hope, 
Thou hovering angel, girt with golden wings! — Line 213. 
Can any mortal mixture of earth's mould 
Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment? — Line 244. 
It were a journey like the path to heaven, 
To help you find them. — Line 303. 
Virtue could see to do what virtue would 
By her own radiant light, though sun and moon 
Were in the flat sea sunk. — Line 373. 
He that has light within his own clear breast 
May sit in the center and enjoy bright day; 
But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts 
Benighted walks under the midday sun. — Line 381. 
'T is chastity, my Brother, chastity: 
She that has that is clad in complete steel. — Line 420. 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES. 287 

So dear to heaven is saintly chastity, 

That when a soul is found sincerely so, 

A thousand liveried angels lackey her, 

Driving far off each thing of sin or guilt.— Line 453- 

How charming is divine philosophy! 

Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose; 

But musical as is Apollo's lute, 

And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets, 

Where no crude surfeit reigns. — Line 476. 

I was all ear, 
And took in strains that might create a soul 
Under the ribs of death. — Line 560. 

If this fail, 
The pillar'd firmament is rottenness, 
And earth's base built on stubble. — Line S97« 
It is for homely features to keep home, 
They had their name thence. — Line 748. 

Swinish gluttony 
Ne'er looks to heaven amidst his gorgeous feast, 
But with besotted base ingratitude 
Crams, and blasphemes his feeder. — Line 776. 
Or, if virtue feeble were, 
Heaven itself would stoop to her. — Line 1022. 

Lycidas. 
Under the opening eyelids of the morn. — Line 26. 
Throw hither all your quaint enamell'd eyes, 
That on the green turf suck the honied showers, 
And purple all the ground with vernal flowers. 
Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies, 
The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine, 
The white pink, and the well-attired woodbine, 
With cowlips wan that hang the pensive head, 
And every flower that sad embroidery wears. — Line 139. 
Under the shady roof 
Of branching elm star-proof. — Line 88, Arcades. 

V Allegro. 

Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee 

Jest, and youthful Jollity, 

Quips, and Cranks, and wanton Wiles, 

Nods, and Becks, and wreathed Smiles. — Line 25. 

Sport that wrinkled Care derides, 

And Laughter holding both his sides. 

Come, and trip it as you go, 

On the light fantastic toe. — Line 31. 



288 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

And ever, against eating cares 

Lap me in soft Lydian airs, 

Married to immortal verse, 

Such as the meeting soul may pierce, 

In notes with many a winding bout 

Of linked sweetness long drawn out. — Line 135. 

Untwisting all the chains that tie, 

The hidden soul of harmony. — Line 143. 

Il Penseroso. 

The gay motes that people the sunbeams. — Line 8. 

And looks commercing with the skies, 

Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes. — Line 39. 

And join with thee calm Peace and Quiet, 
Spare Fast, that oft with gods doth diet. — Line 45.' 

Where glowing embers through the room 
Teach light to counterfeit a gloom. — Line 79. 

Save the cricket on the hearth. — Line 82. 

Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing, 
Such notes as, warbled to the string, 
Drew iron tears from Pluto's cheek. — Line 105. 

Where more is meant than meets the ear. — Line 120. 

What needs my Shakespeare for his honour'd bones, 

The labor of an age in piled stones? 

Or that his hallowed relics should be hid 

Under a star-y-pointing pyramid? 

Dear son of memory, great heir of fame. 

— Line 4, Epitaph on Shakespeare. 

And so sepulchred in such pomp dost lie, 

That kings for such a tomb would wish to die. — Line 15. 

Thy liquid notes that close the eye of day. — To the Nightingale. 

That old man eloquent. — To the Lady Margaret Ley. 

License they mean when they cry liberty. 

— On the Detraction which followed upon my Writing certain 
Treatises. 

Peace hath her victories 
No less renowned than war. — To the Lord General Cromwell. 

Thousands at his bidding speed, 
And post o'er land and ocean without rest ; 
They also serve who only stand and wait. — On his Blindness. 

But O, as to embrace me she inclin'd, 

I wak'd, she fled, and day brought back my night. 

— On his Deceased Wife. 



WHO-WHEN-WHERE SERIES. 289 

Truth is as impossible to be soiled by an outward touch as the 
sunbeam. — The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce. 

Behold the bright countenance of truth in the quiet and still air 
of delightful studies. — The Reason of Church Government. 

Litigious terms, fat contentions, and flowing fees. 

— Tractate of Education. 

As good almost kill a man as kill a good book; who kills a man, 
kills a reasonable creature, God's image ; but he who destroys a good 
book kills reason itself. — Areopagitica. 

A good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit embalmed 
and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond. — Areopagitica. 

Who ever knew truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter? 

— Areopagitica. 

Men of most renowned virtue have sometimes by transgressing most 
truly kept the law. — Tetrarchordon. 

Note. — Many of Milton's " Best Thoughts " have been quoted under 
topical classifications, scattered throughout this volume, and we have thought 
best to omit most of them from the " Who-When-Where " series. The 
reader will find the index to authors complete in its references to Milton, 
and all quotations from him, or any other author, can thus be traced. 



MARQUIS OF MONTROSE 
1612-1650. 

He either fears his fate too much, 

Or his deserts are small, 
That dares not put it to the touch 

To gain or lose it all. — My Dear and Only Love. 



SIR THOMAS BROWNE. 
1 605 -1 682. 

Rich with the spoils of nature. — Religio Medici, Part I, Sec. 13. 

Rich with»the spoils of time. — Gray's Elegy, St. 13. 
Nature is the art of God.— Same, Pt. I, Sec. 16. 
Ruat coelum, flat voluntas tua. — Part II, Sec. 12. 

Do well and right, and let the world sink. — Herbert. 



290 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

LIGHT FROM THE STARS. 

How much light dfoes the earth receive from the stars and planets? 

The quantity of light received by our globe from the stars 
is very small. Only recently Professor Nichols measured it by 
means of a very fine apparatus, about thirty times more sensi- 
tive than the instruments hitherto used for this purpose. As 
a unit of measurement he used the ioo,ooo,oooth part of the 
light of a standard candle at a distance of one metre (about 
a yard). He found that the brightest star in the northern 
sky. Arcturus, of the constellation of Bootes, sends to the 
earth little more light than that received by the eye from that 
unit. Libra, in the constellation of Lyra, supplies us with but 
half of this quantity of light, while the planet Jupiter sends 
us two and a half times as much light. — Londsberg. 



THE VARIABLE STAR ALGOL. 

This is one of the most conspicuous and noteworthy stars 
in the heavens. Its remarkable fluctuations of light were 
probably known to the ancient observers, but the first definite 
record of its discovery is by Montanari, in 1669, and the accu- 
rate determination of its period was not effected until 1782 
by Goodrick. At that time the star passed through all its 
gradations of brilliancy in two days twenty hours fifty-nine 
seconds, but the period seems decreasing, for Chandler has 
recently found it eight and one-half seconds less. The star is 
usually a little fainter than second magnitude,, and remains 
so for about two days eleven hours, when it rapidly declines 
in lustre, and in about four and one-half hours arrives at a 
minimum of three and three-quarters magnitude. There is 
then a revival of its brilliancy, and in five and one-half hours 
it reaches its normal magnitude of two and one-quarter. From 
the end of March until the beginning of August the star is 
tiot favorably visible, being immersed in vapors and twilight 
on the northern horizon, but in the autumn and winter months 
it may be viewed with advantage. — Londsberg. 



STELLAR PHOTOMETRY. 291 



STELLAR PHOTOMETRY. 

By Henry M. Parkhurst. 

Properly speaking, the art of measuring light has not 
been discovered. We cannot subtract from the given light a 
determinate amount and subject the remainder to independ- 
ent determination. What is called measuring light consists 
in either reducing the given light in a known proportion, 
making it apparently equal to another standard light, or 
making it too faint to be perceptible. Both these methods 
are subject to so many disturbing causes that it is not sur- 
prising that many astronomers are inclined to adhere to the 
ancient method of estimation, by following which Arge- 
lander in the northern hemisphere, Gould in the southern 
hemisphere, and Schonfeld in the intermediate region, have 
furnished us standard magnitudes for all the lucid stars, 
and all the brighter telescopic stars, of marvelous consistency. 
A series of twenty standards, half a magnitude apart, being 
firmly impressed upon the mind, the observer made his com- 
parison of each star with the corresponding standard, with 
such interpolation of brightness as was practicable; and 
those who use their catalogues have many hundreds of thou- 
sands of stars to assist them in adapting their own estima- 
tions to the same system. 

In a perfect photometry, each magnitude corresponds to 
a certain proportion of the light of the next brighter magni- 
tude. Sensation varies in geometric proportion; and a 
photometric scale founded upon geometric progression has 
many advantages. So far as precision is concerned, the 
ratio of the magnitude is unimportant. Pogson's ratio of 
2.y 2 , or more accurately the number corresponding to the 
logarithm [0.4000] has been extensively used and is remark- 



292 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

ably convenient. If a different ratio should be adopted by 
any observer, his results would only need to be multiplied 
by a constant to reduce them to Pogson's ratio, adding an- 
other constant to allow for difference of standard. Pogson's 
ratio has the merit of corresponding well with the scales or 
rather the scale of Argelander, Gould and Schonfeld, down 
to the 8th magnitude. Below this point there is a divergence 
in the estimation of different observers, increasing with 
fainter magnitudes, until they are entirely discordant. A 
change of ratio would not remedy this, while it would destroy 
the accordance with the brighter stars. 

The fundamental question then is, Shall the photometric 
scale be fixed by unassisted estimation, or shall photometric 
apparatus be employed, to vary the light of the observed star, 
as a means of assisting and correcting the estimation? In 
the mode of dividing the photometric scale by unassisted 
estimation, the first division creates a personal bias in favor 
of its repetition. Having fixed upon a star of the 1st magni- 
tude, and another of the 9th, the astronomer desires to fix 
the 5th magnitude midway between them. It would be super- 
human to hit upon it exactly. If the first assumed 5th 
magnitude star is too faint, the tendency will be to make 
the next also too faint; and if there is a personal bias that 
way, the more trials are made the more definitely that stan- 
dard will be settled at a point fainter than it should be. The 
3d magnitude is estimated midway between the 1st and the 
erroneous 5th. Again an error of bias is introduced. And 
so of every other standard, there will be a bias. Another 
astronomer, using Argelander's stars, attempts to learn his 
scale; and even if his own bias should be in the opposite 
direction, he would assume it to be from his lack of experi- 
ence, and would train his judgment to adopt Argelander's 
scale. As a final result the scale would be, as it undoubtedly 
is, consistent with itself, and yet there might be a large 
error in the uniformity of the scale. That is, the ratio of light 
might be different in different parts of the scale; and there 
would be no means of detecting it. 



STELLAR PHOTOMETRY. 293 

Suppose then we adopt photometric apparatus like the 
meridian photometer, in which the observed star is com- 
pared with the Pole-star, and the instrument gives the pro- 
portion of the light of the two stars when equality is appar- 
ently reached. One observer may habitually make the right 
hand star the brighter, and another the fainter, in obtaining 
equality. But each individual would have an average bias, 
which would become more and more uniform with practice; 
and if the stars B, C, D, E, &c, were compared, under pre- 
cisely similar conditions with A, whatever bias there might 
be in the original comparisons, that would be eliminated when 
we compare the stars B, C, D, E, &c, with each other. 

So in observing with the deflector, my own pet device, 
where the stars are reduced to invisibility with uniform il- 
lumination; if different stars are reduced to invisibility 
under precisely similar circumstances, whatever the point of 
invisibility may be, and however it may vary between one 
evening and another, the stars observed at the same time are 
free from personal bias, when compared with each other. 

The underlying question is whether systematic errors are 
guarded against; for a systematic error in a photometric 
instrument is as liable to mislead as a bias in estimation. 

One source of systematic error in the use of the early 
method of diminishing apertures, and also in the use of the 
wedge, is the difference of illumination. A very large error 
results in the method of diminishing apertures, especially if 
a low magnifying power is employed, from the greater dark- 
ness of the field in the extinction of bright stars. So in the 
use of the wedge, the background, where the bright stars 
are extinguished is much brighter than where the faint stars 
are extinguished and this is only partially compensated in 
determining the value of the wedge. This particular error 
does not affect observations with the meridian photometer 
or with the deflector. 

In my judgment the most important source of error in 
photometric observations is from the irregularity of the sky. 
But there is no tendency to systematic error from this source. 



294 B EST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

We have a remarkable proof of the existence of this error 
in Argelander's estimations, where whole zones were affected. 
Certain zones were observed on one or two evenings when the 
sky was unusually clear, and the adjoining* zones on even- 
ings when the sky was less transparent; the effect being that 
those zones observed on the clearer nights, contain many 
more stars of the lower limit than the adjoining zones. The 
same cause of error exists in the Harvard photometric zones. 
There are very many of these stars which were only observed 
twice, and if the sky near the pole happened to be .either 
more or less clear than in the observed zone, the whole of 
the stars were affected with the difference. I am satisfied 
that there is in many places a discrepancy of half a magni- 
tude or more in the mean scale of magnitudes in the Harvard 
Zone Catalogue, resulting from this cause. 

My own observations have been purely differential, the 
comparison stars being almost invariably so close that no 
allowance need to be made for difference of obscuration. 
But this very circumstance has affected them to a great ex- 
tent with the local errors of the Harvard Zones, from which 
the standards were taken. There have been two checks. I 
have taken pains, especially where an error was suspected, 
to compare with other zones 5 away, so as to divide the 
error. And wherever groups of stars were compared with 
asteroids, those asteroids tended to reduce errors of standard. 

A fruitful source of error in observing with the meridian 
photometer has been the misidentification of stars. My own 
observations with the deflector are almost absolutely .free 
from this danger. Each star is identified by the configura- 
tion of the group, every time it is measured. 

Since the completion of my Catalogue of Comparison 
Stars, I have adopted the plan of using only my own results 
after having obtained the general standard from the average 
of a sufficient number of meridian photometer stars: so 
that my new catalogue now forming, is free from the in- 
fluence of errors of misidentification, excepting so far as they 



STELLAR PHOTOMETRY. 295 

may have affected the average standard in the neighborhood. 
Comparison of these results in my new catalogue with the 
corresponding magnitudes in the meridian photometer or> 
servations, will identify the stars which have varied. In 
some of these cases, I have no doubt that the variation has 
been in the stars themselves. I am fully satisfied that the 
probable error of my observations consists chiefly of the 
variations of the sky. I have found that on especially clear 
evenings my probable error does not exceed that claimed 
by Miiller and Kempf. But this is not a systematic error; 
it only increases the number of observations necessary to ob- 
tain accuracy. This confirms the conclusion I arrived at 
long ago, that under the atmospheric conditions, it is better 
to multiply observations on different evenings, than to seek 
to increase the accuracy of individual observations. 

For the first ten years of my photometric observations 
of variable stars, all these observations were largely affected 
by the necessary local errors in the standards employed, aris- 
ing from irregular or unequal atmospheric obscuration. The 
necessity for the comparisons in different portions of the 
sky being made in different seasons of the year, produced 
large discrepancies, with a tendency to their repetition in 
different years. The local error does not affect the time of 
maximum or minimum, but may need to be considered in 
comparing the brightness of variables in different years. 
Most of my early attempts to correct these errors were nec- 
essarily to obtain local and partial equalization. At last I 
reached a point where the elimination of these local errors 
became possible, by means of the observation of asteroids. 
The variations of the asteroids in brightness, which may be 
accurately computed, are independent of the positions among 
the stars, and of the season of the year. A special standard 
was adopted to conform with the average derived from nearly 
a thousand standard stars by several thousand photometric 
observations. More than fifty different asteroids were used 
to obtain the special standard, and 24 of these asteroids 
were selected in consequence of their having been frequently 



296 BEST THOUGHTS OP BEST THINKERS. 

compared with each other and with special groups of stars. 
The constants of these 24 asteroids have been reduced to 
this standard, and in their wanderings they are continually 
bringing new regions into conformity with it. As many as 
ten different standard asteroids have been used in comparison 
with a single group of stars, as they passed its neighborhood. 
On the average my present catalogue of comparison stars 
reduced to the asteroid basis by six or more photometric 
comparisons with standard asteroids, includes stars within 
each degree of right ascension throughout the equatorial 
region of the entire heavens. But this includes a very small 
fraction of the entire list of stars partially reduced to this 
standard. 



THE PLANET MARS: 

By Chas. S. Howe, Ph. T>., President and Professor 
op Astronomy, Case School oe 
Applied Science. 

During the last thirty years, the attention of the astro- 
nomical world has been especially drawn to Mars. Every 
large telescope has been used to study its surface. One new 
observatory has been established for the express purpose of 
observing this planet, and another new observatory has given 
the greater portion of its time to the same purpose. Once in 
fifteen years the planet is very favorably situated for obser- 
vation. 

To the naked eye, Mars appears as a red star of the 
first magnitude. Its color is not sufficient to distinguish it, 
however, because several of the fixed stars are also red; 
but if we know about where it is to be found, its color will 
enable us to find it. It revolves around the sun in 687 days. 
Sometimes it is too near the sun for observation, and again 



THE PLANET MARS. 297 

it is in the opposite quarter od the heavens. When the earth 
is between it and the sun, the planet is said to be in opposi- 
tion, and it is then most favorably situated for study. These 
periods occur at intervals of about two- years. The planet 
then rises just as the sun sets, and can be seen all night; it 
is also nearest the earth at this time, and is much larger to 
the eye. But its distance at opposition varies greatly, rang- 
ing from 35,000,000 miles at a favorable opposition to 61,- 
000,000 miles at an unfavorable one. The last favorable 
opposition occurred in 1892, and the next will come in 1909. 
In 1892, however, it was very far south in the heavens, and 
so could not well be seen at northern observatories. The best 
observations were made at the Harvard College observatory, 
situated at Arequipa, Peru. This observatory had the further 
advantage of being 8,000 feet above the sea level in the clear 
atmosphere of the Andes. 

The opposition of 1877 was memorable in the history of 
Mars. Up to that time it was supposed to have no moons. 
The great telescope at Washington had been completed but a 
few years. It was the largest refractor in the world, and 
Prof. Hall determined to make an effort to discover what 
smaller glasses had failed to find. Everything seemed favor- 
able for success; the planet was near the earth, an immense 
telescope was in readiness, a skillful observer undertook the 
investigation; arid success rewarded the effort. In August, 
1877, Prof. Hall announced that Mars had two small moons 
revolving very near the surface. In many respects these are 
the most remarkable bodies in the solar system; they are 
only six and seven miles in diameter. Deimos and Phobos 
are the names given to them by Prof. Hall, because these 
were the attendants of Mars spoken of in the " Iliad." 
Deimos is 12,500 miles from the surface, and revolves 
around it in about thirty hours, while Phobos is about 3,700 
miles from the surface, and revolves around it in seven hours 
and thirty-nine minutes. Mars rotates on its axis in twenty- 
four hours and thirty-seven minutes, and so Phobos revolves 
around it three times in one day. In fact, Phobos moves so 
rapidly that to the inhabitants of Mars, if there are any, it 



298 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

would appear to rise in the west and set in the east. It passes 
through all its phases, from new moon to full and back to 
new moon agai$ between two and three times every day, 
and it is also totally eclipsed nearly every day. 

More is known about the surface of Mars than of any 
other heavenly body except the moon. So many misleading 
articles have appeared in the press during the last two years 
that it seems well to give an exact statement of our present 
knowledge. The truth is wonderful enough, wnen we con- 
sider that the body we are studying, even when nearest to 
the earth, is one hundred and forty times as tar away as the 
moon. At this time the most powerful telescope in the world 
would not make the planet appear as distinct as it would to 
the naked eye 14,000 miles away. In order to be seen at all 
at this distance an object must be several miles in diameter. 
It seems unnecessary to say that cities have not been dis- 
covered, nor in fact has any evidence of human beings been 
found. 

Mars has been known from the earliest times. Ptolemy 
speaks of it in the Almagest written in 272 B. C. Since 
the invention of the telescope, many observers have made 
it the object of special study. In 1840, the first map of its 
surface was published. In 1877, Schiaparelli, of Milan, made 
an extensive triangulation of its surface, and from this period 
our true knowledge of the surface of Mars may be said to 
date. The clear air of Italy was an important factor in this 
work; but the man at the eye end of a telescope is of more 
importance than air or aperture, and Schiaparelli possesses 
in a wonderful degree the power to observe. His results were 
so far beyond what had been known before, that they were 
accepted with great reluctance by astronomers, and it is 
only within a few years that he has been given full credit 
for his work. During the last ten years American observa- 
tories have given a great deal of attention to this subject. 
The Lick Observatory, the Harvard College Observatory in 
Peru, and the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, have been 
especially active and much of our recent knowledge has come 
from these places. 



THE PLANET MARS. 299 

The surface of Mars differs very much from that of the 
earth. There are no mountain ranges and only a few high 
peaks. The greater part of the surface is low and until re- 
cently it has been supposed that quite a large portion is 
covered with water. At the poles are large masses of ice 
and snow, which in winter frequently reach as far south as 
latitude 70 degrees. At the beginning of summer these snow 
masses are some 1,800 miles in diameter, but they melt under 
the influence of the sun and at the end of the summer some- 
times completely disappear. The process of melting can be 
observed very easily with large telescopes. Notches appear 
in the edge of the ice field; holes and fissures are found in 
the interior. Then isolated masses of snow and ice are seen, 
which after a time melt and disappear. The seas as they are 
called, which surround the poles increase in size as the snow 
melts. Around the south pole is a great sea, the Mare Aus- 
trale, which covers one-third of the whole surface. The 
center of the southern snow is not at the pole, but is about 
180 miles from it. At the end of summer in the southern 
hemisphere the pole is wholly uncovered. 

The northern continent is of a reddish-yellow color and 
is supposed to be land. This land is covered with a com- 
plicated net-work of canals, extending in straight lines for 
long distances. These canals, are in many cases double, or 
rather they become double at certain times. Schiaparelli 
announced this doubling of the canals in 1882, and recently 
it has been confirmed by several observers. 

The center of the northern snow seems to be at the pole. 
When it melts the water flows over the surrounding land, 
forming a temporary lake, and finally passes off through the 
canals. 

Small white spots have been seen in various parts of the 
surface and even in the equatorial regions which seem from 
their transient character to be snow masses. If this supposi- 
tion is correct, the snow must have been on a high mountain 
peak. As snow and water are found, there must be an atmos- 
phere on Mars capable of carrying watery vapor from one 
place to another. The existence of such an atmosphere was 



300 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

never doubted until recently when Prof. Campbell, of the 
Lick Observatory made an extended series of spectroscopic 
observations and could find no more evidence of atmosphere 
on Mars than on the moon. Later still, European observers 
claim to have found certain evidence of an atmosphere. 
Clouds are rarely seen, and it is claimed that it never rains. 

The canals seem to be permanent features. One of 
them, the Nilosyrtis, has been known for nearly one hundred 
years and others twenty or thirty years. Their length is al- 
ways the same but their width and color are changeable, due 
probably to the vegetation, along their banks. There are 
many of these canals but all are not visible at once. They 
always begin and end in a sea, a lake or another canal. 
Several of them may converge to one point and this point 
is then called a lake, but which is probably a mass of vegeta- 
tion watered by the intersecting canals. In a few days or 
even a few hours, a canal may become double, the two parts 
being from 30 miles to 360 miles apart and the breadth of 
each being from 18 miles to 60 miles. The color of the 
two lines varies from black to a dark-red, while the part be- 
tween is usually yellow. After remaining for a time the two 
lines fade and disappear. Many explanations of this doubling 
of the canals have been offered but none of them are satis- 
factory. 

The seas upon Mars seem for the most part to be shal- 
low. After the melting of the polar snows, they gradually 
dry up, leaving numerous islands. Mr. Lowell suggests that 
the change of color may be due largely to vegetation, and not 
to water and that the water supply may be very small. In 
the spring the vegetation would be dark and as the water 
flowed toward the equator or evaporated it would turn yellow 
which is the characteristic color of the Martian continents. 

It is impossible to mention all the discoveries that have 
been made. The results obtained at the Lick Observatory 
and at the Lowell Observatory ki Arizona, are of the most 
interesting and valuable character. Future oppositions when 
these results can be verified are eagerly awaited by astronom- 
ers. 



MODERN ALCHEMY. 30I 



MODERN ALCHEMY, 
OR TRANSMUTATION OF SILVER INTO GOLD. 

By Rudolph Melville Hunter, M. E., E. E. 

To directly produce the rare metals and jewels, as nature 
produces them, has been the dream of men of every age since 
the days of the Greek philosophers many centuries before 
the christian era. The making of diamonds has been accom- 
plished. The making of gold from baser metals is also ac- 
complished and is an every day occurrence in my laboratories. 
That one metal may be transformed into another may strike 
the average man as strange indeed, but to men of original 
research and deep thought it is the natural result to be ex- 
pected with the advance of scientific investigation. Thus 
Prof. Garrett P. Serviss asserts that the atoms of our present 
metals are undoubtedly divisible into minor particles. He 
recently stated, " The different metals are what they are by 
virtue of their atoms. An atom of gold is one thing and an 
atom of lead another thing. To change one into the other, 
then, the atoms themselves must be altered." This is a plain 
statement and my daily work substantiates its correctness. 
Profs. Crookes, Lodge, Curie, Houston and other eminent 
scientists believe that the so-called " elements " of our text 
books are divisible into primary particles or ions which are 
the same in composition for all substances except as to their 
elections or electric charges and the inductional capacities 
incident thereto. 

That gold may be made from silver, lead, copper and 
other metals I have established beyond the smallest cavil of 
doubt; that it can be made more easily from silver than 
other metals except platinum, as also positively determined 
by the daily work of my laboratories. That silver may be 



302 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

transmuted into gold with great rapidity may be astonishing, 
but nevertheless, is an undeniable fact. 

Where nature would require a hundred years to produce 
gold from silver, applied scientific principles will accomplish 
the same results within the surprisingly short time of from 
ten to thirty minutes. 

In fact, under some most favorable conditions, I have 
been enabled to produce gold from pure silver in less than one 
minute. 

Gold and silver differ only in the number and electro- 
lized condition of their primary parts or ions, and under 
proper conditions this change can be effected in a few minutes. 

The theory upon which metals may be transformed one 
into the other is not confined to any particular metals, and 
while lead and copper may be transmuted into gold, the cost 
of such transmutation is far greater than the cost of convert- 
ing silver into gold; consequently, for economic reasons, I 
confine myself at present to the commercial transformation 
of silver into gold. 

Different metals contain different numbers of ions in 
their atoms, and hence these ions are essential functions of 
the atomic weights of such metals. Where a silver atom 
contains about 75,600 ions, a gold atom will contain 137,620, 
or almost twice as many; and as all ions are of the same 
weight, it follows that the gold atom is almost twice as heavy 
as the silver atom. 

A condition charactersitic of these ions is their inductive 
capacity, so that they may exert electro-positive and electro 
negative influences and induce thereby consequent attrac- 
tions and repellances with the resulting effect that move- 
ments of great velocity are secured in these infinitesimal ele- 
ments. They have an orbital range commensurate with the 
size and crystalline characteristics of the atom. 

The inductive or electrical functions of the ions produce 
in the atom a large number of opposing polarities, which 
create a composite field of force to induce an attraction to the 



MODERN ALCHEMY. 303 

earth and impart the effect of weight, and also exercise an 
influence between the atoms to produce molecular cohesion 
and solidity. 

The rearrangement of the ions in changing from a silver 
atom to a gold atom causes a change in the inductive force 
with which the atom is attracted to the earth, and as a result, 
changes its specific gravity, which is a function of attraction 
of gravitation. 

As an introduction to a more serious consideration of the 
theory of the transmutation, let us assume that we have the 
atoms of silver greatly enlarged, so as to be seen, and will 
find that each one will be composed of, say, 75,600 little parti- 
cles like planets, flying around with lightning rapidity, but 
at no time leaving the limit of their orbital range relatively 
to each other. 

The first thing that must be done is to destroy the activi- 
ty of these little particles, and this necessitates de-electrify- 
ing them, so that their polarity and inductional capacity is nil. 

Assume that under these conditions we have collected 
these elements in a box. We then, as it were, gather up 137,- 
620 of them and impress upon them the proper electric charge 
or electron and set them into motion with new orbital range 
and we have created an atom of gold. The crystallization 
is another matter and will be explained later. 

In transforming one atom into another, several steps 
are necessary, namely: The inductional capacity of these ions 
must be destroyed, whereby they are rendered quiescent or 
inactive; next, they must be segregated or forced out of 
their former correlation; they then must be reassembled in 
a new grouping as to numbers; and finally re-electrolized or 
given inductive capacity. 

The result of these steps is that we create a new atom, 
with all the basic characteristics of the new metal. 

Notwithstanding that we are dealing with infinitesimal 
things, this splitting up and re-arrangement of the ions and 
their depolarization and repolarization can only be effected 
under certain definite conditions, for the elementary forces 



304 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

of nature are almost irresistible in combination and decom- 
position, and consequently these forces must be rendered dor- 
mant during the temporary moments of transition of the 
ions by controlling the electric charges or electrons of these 
ions at this time. 

Molecular disintegration and reformation takes place, and 
this induces the destruction of approximately two atoms of 
silver to produce one atom of gold. The transitory condi- 
tions of the ions when undergoing such influences involve 
molecular disturbance, coupled with essential chemicals and 
electrical treatment. The combined effects in their co-opera- 
tion rehabilitate the ions and produce in staple form the new 
metal. 

The gold produced by transformation is stable and will 
remain as such under all conditions thereafter. It is gold for 
all time to come and will stand all tests for gold known to 
chemistry. 

The gold produced by this process has the crystalliza- 
tion, atomic weight, specific gravity, color and acid resist- 
ances of gold of the mines and as specifically required by the 
text books. It answers to the spectroscopic test ond in every 
way established itself to be as pure 24 carat gold, as nature 
ever made. 

No metals are elements. They are compound bodies, 
each made up of a definite number of ions or ultimate particles 
of matter having an established correlation. 

It may be accepted as an established fact that metals are 
not elementary substances and may be transformed one into 
the other by the act of disintegrating their ions or elementary 
parts of the atom and rearranging and combining them to 
give the new atomic characteristic peculiar to the new metal 
thereby produced. 

That the transformed metal has changed in crystaliza- 
tion is apparent and this change is attributable to the orbital 
range of the ions and the moleclular formation caused or 
largely dependent upon their electro positive or electro nega- 
tive conditions. 



MODERN ALCHEMY. 305 

Nitric acid, which so vigorously attacks and destroys 
sliver, has no effect when the ions which originally constituted 
the silver atoms have been rearranged and transformed into 
gold. 

As a theory, which may be advanced for this, we may 
assume that the atom as a whole may be of such polarity as 
to repel the oxygen element necessary to convert it into an 
oxide at the time it should form a salt with the acid. 

Analysis of the transformed silver, preliminary to the 
separation of the gold, discloses the fact that the gold values 
greatly predominate over the silver. The unconverted silver, 
when separated, is subjected to further treatment until all 
of it is converted into gold. 

As example of the degree of conversion the following 
figures are in point : 

One analysis showed $750 gold and $250 of silver in 
$1,000, while in another case there was $528 of gold to $472 
of silver, or about 14 carat fine. In smaller quantities the 
gold is refined to absolutely 24 carat fine, but this is not re- 
quired commercially, as bullion is acceptable at the United 
States assay office and mint at .650 or even very much less. 

The reduction in the fineness in gold of the transformed 
silver, is due to the presence of silver atoms, whereas in gold 
coin or jewelry it is due to an appreciable percentage of cop- 
per to impart the desired hardness. Gold coin is usually not 
more than .740 fine while jewelry is about .580 fine. 

The silver, under treatment, undergoes various degrees 
of conversion according to the grade of silver used, but it is 
only necessary to separate the unconverted silver from the 
gold by the assayers' methods, and the silver chloride thus 
produced may be remetallized and subjected to further trans- 
mutation into gold until all of the silver has been so trans- 
formed. 

Every indication at the present time points to the possi- 
bility in the near future of transforming the entire mass of 



306 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

silver into pure gold at one operation, thereby obviating the 
necessity of " parting " with acid to separate the gold from 
the silver. 

One dollar's worth of silver produces about $40 in 
gold, as one ounce of silver will produce one ounce of gold. 
There is practically no loss in silver, but there' is- a radical 
change in the specific gravity of its resulting products. Thus 
the specific gravity of the silver (10.4) is changed to the 
specific gravity of gold (19.3), and, as a natural result, the 
gold produced occupies approximately but ha»lf the space. 

The process is such that the degree of transformation in 
a given time may be determined within reasonable limits so 
that the commercial production of gold may become an ex- 
act art. 

That it is possible under my control and guidance to do 
within a few minutes what nature, in her wonderful labor- 
atory, takes decades to accomplish, is a matter worthy of the 
most serious and profound contemplation. 

The commercial side of this process is exceptionally in- 
teresting because it involves the direct production by man- 
ufacturing of gold without the intervention of trade condi- 
tions. 

The cost of producing gold from silver, should not ex- 
ceed 5 per cent, of the value of the gold produced exclusive 
of the cost of the silver. 

The conditions of alchemists of the past have at last 
been vindicated; but their theories were bad and that they 
failed was due to the erroneous supposition that they could 
produce gold by fusing various substances in a crucible in 
the form of an alloy. 



ARTIFICIAL DIAMONDS. 307 



ARTIFICIAL DIAMONDS. 

(1.) When and by whom were artificial diamonds first produced by 
means of electricity? (2.) Have the diamonds thus produced all the 
properties of the genuine diamond? (3.) Kindly describe the method 
of production. 

Answer by Leon Londsberg. 

( 1 ) By Professor Moissan, a celebrated French chemist, 
in the year 1892. (2) The diamonds which Moissan has 
been able to produce are artificial only in the sense that they 
are the product of the laboratory. They possess the hardness, 
clearness, high refractive power and form of those found 
in nature; their only deficiency is in size, the largest he has 
yet produced being only one-twenty-fifth of an inch in dia- 
meter. (3) The method is as follows: Pure iron is melted 
in a carbon crucible by means of the electric current, and into 
this molten iron a cylinder of iron charged with specially pre- 
pared sugar charcoal is dropped. When the whole mass has 
attained a very high temperature the crucible is withdrawn 
and is plunged in cold water or into a bath of molten lead. 
After a thick crust of solid metal has been formed the further 
cooling is allowed to take place in the air, and when quite 
cold the iron mass is attacked with acids in order to dissolve 
the metal in which the diamonds are embedded. This treat- 
ment with acids is continued until all the iron has been re- 
moved, and then other chemicals are used to destroy the 
grains of graphite. The residue which remains after the 
treatment is composed of minute diamonds and small frag- 
ments of carbonado, or impure diamonds. The theory that 
Moissan has advanced to explain his method is that certain 
metals which take carbon into solution or combination at high 
temperatures when submitted to great pressure and rapid 
cooling deposit this carbon in the crystalline form known as 
diamonds. 



308 best thoughts of best thinkers. 



A NEW AND COSTLY DRUG. 

Adrenalin is one of the newest and also one of the most 
costly drugs, and in the window of a Cleveland pharmacy 
there is a small glass bottle that contains almost $500 worth of 
it. The new drug is the active principle of the suprarenal 
gland, and its use is to drive the blood from certain portions of 
the body. Sometimes a preparation of it is used in operations 
on the eye, and it is also used in treatment of troubles affect- 
ing mucous membrances, catarrh, etc. * 

Besides being so expensive, adrenalin is very strong. 
One two-hundred thousandth of a gram, a quantity so small 
that it could not be seen, will produce a distinct rise in blood 
pressure when administered by means of a hypodermic syringe 
into the circulation of an adult man. Doctors worked for 
a number of years to perfect adrenalin. First, preparations 
of the glands of animals from which the drug is obtained 
were made and used, and were found to be valuable, although 
it was a great deal of trouble to prepare the medicine from 
the glands direct, and fresh preparations had to be made all 
the time. Finally Dr. Jokichi Takamini succeeded in ex- 
tracting the active principle of the gland. 

Adrenalin is in the shape of crystals, fine and almost 
like powder, and is a faint violet in color. For use, the crys- 
tals are dissolved and the strength of the solution reduced to 
what is needed. 



WEALTH MADE EY CHEMISTS. 309 



WEALTH MADE BY CHEMISTS. 

The expert chemist is an important figure in the indus- 
trial world today. He can earn not only fame, but also a 
large income, and he saves manufacturers many millions of 
dollars every year. 

Of course, nine out of ten chemists stick to the old 
routine, but the tenth goes in for industrial chemistry, and 
either allies himself to some progressive and flourishing 
manufacturer or independently conducts his industrial ex- 
periments and spends his time and brains in devising schemes 
for the utilization of by-products. 

One doesn't talk much about waste products now. So lit- 
tle is wasted that it doesn't deserve mention. The Chicago 
joke that the packing houses utilize everything about the pigs 
save their squeals, and are planning to make the squeals into 
whistles, has more point than most Chicago jokes. 

Probably the greatest slaughter houses furnish the most 
familiar illustration of the modern thrift in the utilization of 
what was formerly considered waste; and even the small 
abattoirs, while they haven't attained the scientific perfection 
of the Chicago packing houses, are reformed characters. 

It was only a few years ago that the abattoir was usually 
built upon the bank of a stream and all refuse was washed into 
the stream. In course of time neighbors were inconsiderate 
enough to protest against the practice. Sanitary bees in- 
vaded innumerable bonnets, and a howl of protest went up 
against the abattoirs. It was necessary to dispose of the re- 
fuse in some fashion. Chemists were called in. 

Methods for drying the refuse and extracting all grease 
were developed. The grease went into the manufacture of 
soap. The residue was converted into fertilizer. After jelly 
had been made from the hoofs, the hoofs and horns were 
used for buttons, knife handles, etc. The health of the neigh- 
borhood and the income of the slaughter men went up. 



3IO BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

The development of the tremenduous aniline color in- 
dustry is altogether due to chemical experiment with waste 
product. In the dry distillation of coal or wood for gas, the 
gas passes through a succession of washers, which takes out its 
impurities. These impurities, including ammonia, carbolic 
acid, acetic acid and various nitrogen compounds were form- 
erly waste, but are now separated and used. In fact, nearly 
all of the acetic acid in the market is secured from the dry dis- 
tillation of wood. 

Five per cent, of the coal used in gas manufacture is coal 
tar, and by experiment chemists found that this coal tar, al- 
ways regarded as waste residue, contained substances useful 
in the making of dyes. Fully 10 per cent, of the weight of the 
coal tar is available for this purpose, and upon the basis of 
this discovery the enormous coal tar color industry has grown. 
New plants have been put into many of the coke regions to 
collect the coal tar liberated in coke manufacture, and it will 
not be long before the open coke oven will be a thing of the 
past. Where coal is burned in an open oven no coal tar can 
be collected and large profits are literally thrown away, but by 
burning the coal in closed retorts all the coal tar can be re- 
covered and used. 

This color industry, which chemists call the greatest of 
the modern chemical industries, has called for other chemi- 
cal developments. It demands large quantities of sulphuric 
acid, of soda, etc., and chemists have sharpened their wits upon 
the problem of obtaining these products at a minimum ex- 
pense. 

Until recently the greater part of the sulphur used in 
this country was imported from Sicily. Now, through chem- 
ical processes, the sulphur contained in gold, silver and zinc 
is liberated and burnt to sulphur dioxide, from which almost 
all of our sulphuric acid is made. 

In connection with all of our mining development, chem- 
istry has played an important part. Ores can be mined; with 
profit today that would have been practically worthless a few 
years ago. In the old days only high grade ore was profi- 



WEALTH MADE BY CHEMISTS. 3H 

table, and only a certain percentage of the gold contained in 
the ore was freed. 

The tailings thrown aside held a considerable quantity of 
gold, but could not be worked by the ordinary processes, so 
were piled mountain high and disregarded until chemists dis- 
covered that the gold was soluble in potassium cyanide, and 
that by washing in a very weak solution of potassium cyanide, 
the tailing gold could be profitably separated from the re- 
fuse. The same process has led to the working of low grade 
ores, running $4 or $5 to the ton, which could not be profitably 
worked by the ordinary mining processes. 

The silver contained in lead has also been freed and util- 
ized. It was found by chemists that when the melted lead was 
mixed with zinc the silver formed an alloy with the zinc and 
floated to the surface. When this mass was taken from the 
lead and heated in a retort, the zinc, being volatile, was freed 
and left a deposit so rich in silver that it was easily purified. 

The applications of chemistry to mining processes are 
legion, but it is in other branches of industry that practical 
chemistry is now making its strides. The Standard Oil Co. 
is a hardy exponent of the merits of industrial chemistry and 
has expert chemists constantly employed. As for that matter, 
so have all the great gas plants, coke plants, sugar refineries, 
starch factories, etc. 

The original waste of the oil business was enormous ; now 
it is next to nothing. Of course, the primary aim is the pro- 
duction of kerosene, but crude oil contains on the one side, 
oils lighter than kerosene, such as gasolene, naphtha, and, on 
the other side, products much heavier than kerosene, such as 
paraffin. At one time all of these bi-products were waste; 
now every one of them is utilized. 

By first distillation, the lighter oils are freed and collected. 
Then the kerosene is distilled, leaving a product that is worked 
over into hard paraffin and soft paraffin or vaseline. A heavy 
oil left after the collecting of the paraffin is used for lubrica- 
ting and fuel oil, much of it being made into car and axle 
grease. After all these processes a solid mass of carbon is 



312 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

left in the retorts, and this is used to a considerable extent in. 
making carbon sticks for electric light. 

The dairy business is one of the industries with which 
the chemist is busying himself, and the results so far have 
been most satisfactory, although a much broader field for the 
use of casein is prophesied. The large creameries, having 
turned out their cream and butter, were confronted by great 
quantities of skim milk for which there was apparently no 
use. Skim milk was a drug on the market and In many cases 
was drained off into neighboring streams. 

The chemist stepped in and changed all that. The milk 
is curdled with alkali and a dried product produced which is 
soluble in water. This casein has been used for paper sizing, 
kalsomining, etc., and successful experiments have been made 
with it in the manufacture of artificial foods. Moistened with 
water to a gelatinous consistency, put under a hydraulic press 
and then washed in acid, it forms a hard and indissoluble sub- 
stance, of which buttons and similar articles are made. Chem- 
ists say that the casein powder which is like a fine tasteless 
flour, may be substituted for milk in cooking, and has a greats 
future in this respect. 

Chemistry applied to the sugar industry has been inval- 
uable; and, particularly in connection with the beet sugar man- 
ufacture, has recently effected a wonderful saving. The waste 
in the making of beet sugar was at first enormous, because the 
molasses was absolute waste. It contains products from the 
beet roots which give it a very bitter taste, and is also rich in 
an alkali which spoils its flavor. So, although more than one- 
half of the weight of the molasses was sugar, it was unavail- 
able save for fermentation and alcohol. 

Experiment proved that dry lime, mixed with the mo- 
lasses, combined with the sugar, forming a product insoluble 
in water. Washing the molasses would then separate this pro- 
duct from all the other elements. The lime and sugar product 
being heated with carbonic acid, the lime combined with the 
carbon, forming an indissoluble product, and leaving the sugar 
free to be easily separated. By this process today 90 per cent. 



WEALTH MADE BY CHEMISTS. 313 

of the sugar is recovered from beet molasses and there is 
practically no molasses in the beet sugar factories. 

In the manufacture of cane sugar the molasses is about 
as valuable as the amount of sugar contained in it would be, 
so there is no use for the process adopted in beet sugar mak- 
ing; but there is less weight of sugar in the molasses than 
there was formerly. This fact, and the fact that molasses is 
now made in vacuum pans and cannot be burned or thickened 
as it was in the old fashioned open pans, accounts for the fact 
that there is no more black molasses and no more black ginger- 
bread such as mother used to make. 

The glucose manufacturers have called in chemists, and 
found a new source of profit. The corn grain has, in addition 
to its starch product, a tiny germ in which lies its life prin- 
ciple. This germ was formerly crushed with the starch, sepa- 
rated and thrown aside as waste. Very lately it has been 
shown that this germ is rich in oil which can be utilized. The 
germ is now separated from the starch and crushed. The 
oil gathered finds a ready market, and within the last five 
years millions of dollars* worth of this oil has been' exported 
to Europe, where all corn products are in great demand. 
After the oil is taken from the germ the gluten left in the 
cake is used for varnish, and the residue is used for cattle 
food. 

The corn stalk is also ground and used for cattle food, 
but first the pith of the stalk is extracted and used for the 
lining of vessels, the theory being that if a fissure occurs in 
the framework of the vessel the pith lining, becoming wet, 
will swell and to some extent close the fissure. 

The cottonseed oil industry has eliminated its waste al- 
most entirely, although twenty years ago* every part of the 
cottonseed save the oil was waste product. In the cotton- 
seed oil factory now the seed is collected after coming through 
the cotton gin, and is first stripped of its lint, which is used 
in the manufacture of certain kinds of paper, felts, etc. Next 
the shell of the seed is removed and either ground for cattle 
food or used for fuel. In the latter case the ashes are col- 
lected for potash. 



314 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

The kernel of the seed is ground and pressed to extract 
the oil, and the residue is used for cattle food. The oil in 
process of refining gives off a waste which enters into soap 
making and the making of oleomargarine. 

Glycerin, used in such great quantities at present, was 
for years a waste product. All waste from fatty oils con- 
tains compounds of an acid with glycerin. The acid will 
combine with an alkali, leaving the glycerin in a watery 
solution, from which it is collected by evaporation and distilla- 
tion. Immense quantities of this reclaimed waste product are 
used in the making of explosives. 

When steel is melted in a Bessemer converter the phos- 
phorus, which used to be a nuisance, is separated from the 
steel by the introduction of lime, with which the phosphorus 
combines readily. This phosphorus is then used as a fertil- 
izer. The slag from iron furnaces is converted into' cement. 

The tin is taken from old tin cans by chemical process 
and is used over and over again. 

Even the acids used for chemical purposes are not al- 
lowed to outlive their usefulness with the accomplishment 
of their purpose. The Standard Oil Co. formerly wasted 
great quantities of sulphuric acid after it had been used to 
remove the impurities from the oil. The acid was drained 
into' the river. Now it is used in a fertilizer particularly 
adapted to soil where phosphate rock must be dissolved. 

Then again in certain great galvanizing works the iron 
was cleaned with sulphuric acid, which was then run into the 
nearest river. This method of disposing of the waste was 
forbidden. Chemists were consulted. The solution was 
made stronger so that it could be clarified and used repeatedly. 
Finally, when it could no longer be used for washing, it was 
evaporated, and the sulphate of iron extracted from it. 
This bi-product proved so valuable that it is now the chief 
product of the works. From the waste product of the wine 
industry chemists now obtain a crude cream of tartar, which, 
refined to a high degree, constitutes the acid principle of the 
best forms of baking powder. The list might be protracted 
indefinitely. — New York Sun. 



COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. 315 



COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY — A Review. 
G. W. Edmondson. 

To attempt an elaborate account of all the experiments 
made, and the search and research undertaken to discover 
a means of securing, photographically, the colors of nature 
as seen on the ground glass of the Camera, would be futile 
in the small space allotted to the subject in this volume. 

Only a cursory glance is possible at some of the methods 
by which it was purposed, in the long past and the present 
day, to secure the desired end. In the days of Daguerre, re- 
port says that he and Niepce practiced, with a gaily dressed 
doll for a model, and not only secured the colors of the cloth- 
ing, but the difference in the metallic lustre of the gold and 
silver lace with which the dress was trimmed. Yet they could 
not show their results, as, in the daylight, the colors were 
evanescent. 

In 1 810 Thomas Young, and years later Helmholtz, 
stated that " Color sensation was a function of retinal sensi- 
tiveness." Church, writing on Colour in 1887, says of this : 
" In each elementary part of the retina of the eye there is at 
least one set of three different nerve fibrils, each of the three 
fibrils of a set being especially adapted for the production of 
its own specific color-sensations, yet in a less degree of the 
two others. Thus the receptive structure of the retina as 
a whole may be said to consist of an immense number of 
nerve fibrils of three orders — what we may call red fibrils 
being particularly acted upon by such long light waves as those 
in the red, but being also stimulated in a minor degree by the 
shorter waves in the green and still less by the blue; the 
green fibrils will respond most actively to green waves, and 
in some measure also to red and to blue waves; while the 
blue fibrils will be most excited by the blue rays, though not 
uninfluenced by green and even by red rays." 



316 BEST THOUGHTS OE BEST THINKERS. 

It follows, then, that the best process of Color-Photo- 
raphy is that which shall cause these fibrils to give to the 
brain the truest sensation of the colors of Nature, in the 
least time, with the least labor and at the least expense. 

During the first half or more of the 19th century, the 
many experimenters, amongst whom we find: Seebeck, 
Niepce, Herschel, Hunt, Becquerel, Beauregard, Poitevin, 
Simpson Abney, et al, whose aim was to secure photographs 
in Natural Colors by Chemical means, expected to obtain that 
result upon a Chloride, or Subchloride of Silver, print. 

At the Royal Institution in London, in 1861, James 
Clerk Maxwell gave the result of his experiments in utilizing 
the Young-Helmholtz color-theory in the production of pic- 
tures in Natural Color. These experiments paved the way, 
in fact were the initial steps, towards the present Three-Color 
process — < amplified and brought into practical use by Ives 
and now practiced in different parts of the world with yearly 
marked advancement towards perfection. A description of 
Maxwell's demonstration at the Royal Institution will be 
of interest and is compiled from the report of the above men- 
tioned lecture.* He assumed that red, green and blue were 
the primary colors and exhibited them on a screen by means 
of three magic-lanterns, before which were three glass troughs 
containing respectively the three colors, which he obtained 
with sulpho-cyanide of iron for the red, chloride of copper 
for the green, and ammoniated copper for the blue. Three 
photographs of a many-colored ribbon, taken through these 
three colored solutions respectively, were introduced into the 
lantern giving images representing the red, green, and blue 
parts seperately. When superposed on the screen a colored 
image was seen, which, if the red and green images had been 
as fully photographed as the blue, would have been a truly 
colored image of the ribbon. 

This then, marks another Era in the search after the 
practical rendition of photographs in the true Colors of Na- 
ture, and has been used as the foundation upon which many 

*B. J. Phot. Almanac, 1899. 



COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. 2> l 7 

processes have been built, some by superposition of the three 
colors and others by their use in juxtaposition. 

Four years later than Maxwell's experiments, Henry 
Collen who, when miniature painter to Queen Victoria was 
the first to take a photograph on paper professionally ^ pub- 
lished in the pages of the B. J. of Phot. (Vol. IX 1865, p. 
547) a statement, which is now regarded as an almost pro- 
phetic suggestion for the adaptation of the principles of 
color-vision to photographic purposes. 

" Obtain a negative sensitive to the blue rays only ; ob- 
tain a second negative equally sensitive to the red rays only, 
and a third sensitive to the yellow rays only. There will thus 
have been three plates obtained for printing in colours, each 
plate having extracted all its own peculiar colour from every 
part of the subject in which it has been combined with the 
other two colours, and being in a certain degree analogous 
to the tones used in chromo^-lithography. Now it is evident 
that if a surface be prepared for a positive picture, sensitive 
to yellow rays only, and that the two negatives sensitive only 
to blue and red be superimposed either on the other, and be 
laid on the surface, the action of light will be to give all 
the yellow existing on the subject; and if this process be 
repeated on other surfaces, sensitive only to red or blue re- 
spectively, there will have been produced three pictures of 
a coloured object, each of which contains a primitive colour 
reflected from that object. 

" Now, supposing the first great point achieved, viz., 
the discovery of substances or preparations, each having sensi- 
tiveness to each of the primary colors only, it will not be 
difficult to imagine that the negatives being received on the 
surface of a material quite transparent and extremely thin, 
and that being so obtained are used as above, i. e., each pair 
of superimposed negatives to obtain the colour of the third, 
that three positives will be obtained, each representing a con- 
siderable portion of the form of the object, but only one 
primary of the decomposed colour of it. Now if these three 
positives be received on the same kind of material as that 
used for the negatives, and then laid the one on the other, 



318 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

with true coincidence as to the form, and all laid upon a 
white surface, it will not be difficult to imagine that the effect 
would be not only the representation of the form of the ob- 
ject, but that of its colour also in all its compounds." 

Let us now see how the theories already mentioned have 
been applied by living Scientists to the practical production 
of actual pictures possessing the true colors of nature. And 
pre-eminently first place, in this connection, should be given 
to the name of Frederic E. Ives as the man whose researches 
have been of the most practical use to the workers in the 
photography of color, because he, of all the experimenters 
during the twenty-three years after Cohen's suggestion in 
1865, realized for the first time practically the theories of 
Young, Helmholtz, and Clerk Maxwell. And how did he do 
it? By taking advantage of a lesson taught by the Clerk- 
Maxwell curve measurements, which all the other experi- 
mentalists had overlooked, viz : that the retinal sensations 
of color are excited by mixtures of colors and not as claimed 
by Young and Helmholtz by the three primary colors. 

The Lippman interference method with its ingenious 
manner of stopping the incoming color waves by a mirror 
and reflecting them back through the film of the sensitive 
plate, thus causing an interference of the incoming and out- 
going wave lengths, which point of interference is that actu- 
ally photographed, is an interesting and beautiful scientific 
experiment but, with Prof. Wood's defraction process must be 
classed as non-commercial. Ives however, has given us the 
halftone block and the three separate Color blocks, the nega- 
tives from which they are made being taken through com- 
plementary Color Screens; the blue negative being taken 
through red screen, the red negative through green, and yel- 
low negative through blue screen. He also invented in 1878 
the " Bichromate Cell " and in 1885 the sealed color screen 
to be used as filters in the production of the tri-color nega- 
tives, and in 1881 was one of the earliest to produce a print 
in three-color half-tone. In the Kromskop, Ives has given 
the world an instrument in which it may see the object pho- 
tographed " like a reflection of the object itself in a mirror." 



COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. 3*9 

The description in their own words, taken from a little book- 
let published by the Ives Kromskop Co., makes the process 
and system so easily understood that we give it verbatim. 

" The Kromskop system of color photography is based 
upon the fact that all the varied hues of nature are physio- 
logically equivalent to mixtures of three simple spectrum 
colors, red, green, and blue-violet. The Kromskop photo- 
graph consists of three stereoscopic pairs of images, similar 
in appearance to ordinary uncolored lantern slides, but which, 
by differences in their light and shade, represent the distribu- 
tion of proportions of the respective ' primary ' colors in the 
object photographed. The Kromskop photograph is there- 
fore, although not a color photograph, a color record, just 
as the cylinder of the phonograph, although not a cylinder 
of sound, contains a record of sounds, and the kinetoscope 
ribbon, although not an animated photograph, contains a 
record of motion. The phonograph cylinder must be placed 
in the phonograph before it can be made to reproduce the 
sounds recorded; the kinetoscope ribbon must pass through 
the kinetoscope in order to visually reproduce the moving 
scene ; and the Kromogram must be placed in the Kromskop 
in order to visually reproduce the object photographed, which 
it does so perfectly, that all suggestion of photography van- 
ishes, and the object itself seems to stand before the eyes." 

But the demand is for a picture as perfect as that zrisual 
one in the Kromskop, yet one that can be seen without the 
aid of any instrument, and can be handled. 

This requirement is obtained by the tri-color processes, 
more or less satisfactorily. In the printing press by the 
superposition of three different colored ink impressions as 
previously described, and in the case of lantern slides by the 
superposition of three transparent films stained to the red, 
green, and blue adequate for the purpose. 

In fact, whether by superposition or juxtaposition, all 
Color-Photc rgrgaphy might be called tri-color." 

In the McDonough-Joly Process we have the use of the 
three colors in juxtaposition. 

A glass plate is ruled with transparent color lines, 300 or 



320 BEST THOUGHTS OF BKST THINKERS. 

400 to the inch, of orange-red, yellow-green, and violet-blue. 
This plate is brought into contact, face to* face with the film 
on the negative plate in the ordinary plate holder in the 
camera after removing the slide, by a simple permanent de- 
vice arranged in the reversible back of the camera. The 
negative plate must be stained so as to be sensitive to> all 
the colors of the spectrum. It is now evident that the light 
rays from the object photographed, must pass through the 
three different lines of color before they can reach the sensi- 
tive, surface of the* negative plate. It is also evident that if 
an unscreened lens be used, the part of the image passing 
through the blue lines would be very much over-exposed be- 
fore the part passing through the green and red lines had 
made an impression. To overcome this difficulty a screen 
must be used stained yellow or greenish yellow, of sufficient 
density of color to equallize the density of the lines on the 
negative when photographing a white card. A transparency 
or lantern slide is printed from the negative, when instead 
of a cover glass, a screen called the Viewing Screen ruled 
precisely in the same guage and color as that in the Camera 
called the Taking Screen, with the exception that the blue 
line is lighter, is applied in registration to the positive image 
and immediately the true Colors of Nature flash out. A 
half-tone block may be made from the color-negative and 
printed in black ink upon paper ruled as the Viewing Screen 
and a color-photo on paper is obtained. 

One exposure on one plate and one print, secures all the 
Colors of Nature. 

And now at the commencement of the 20th century, we 
are again confronted with the statement, so many times made 
and so many times proved fallacious. We are told that Herr 
Jan Szczepanik, a Galician, has invented a loom which " will 
weave one's portrait almost as quickly as it is now made 
on photographic paper " and that he has at last solved the 
problem of photography in natural colors on paper with one 
exposure. The Editor of Penrose's Pictorial Annual, '03, 
'04, Mr. Wm. Gamble, assures his readers on page 1 that he 
has had the weaving demonstrated to him, and that he has 



COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. 321 

" handled the ingenious Camera which Herr Szczepanik has 
designed for taking three images on one plate with one lens." 

The Editor does not say wherein this Camera differs 
from, or is similar to, the one designed by Ives for the same 
purpose. Mr. Gamble also says that he has " tried the sensi- 
tive paper which, when exposed to light under a colored 
positive, reproduced the hues of nature by a process of print- 
ing which is no more difficult than ordinary printing." The 
inventor also claims that " in another year or two he will 
obtain the colored image in the camera." May it all come 
true. 



THE CURATIVE POWER OF LIGHT. 

A spectroscopical analysis of white light shows that is 
is composed of colored luminous radiations, of which the 
seven colors — violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange 
and red — are visible. But beyond violet and below red, phy- 
sicists are discovering ever new radiations of various wave 
lengths, which are too short or too long to be perceived by 
the human eye, but which otherwise reveal very marked phy- 
sical* and chemical properties. The radiations below red are 
called calorific because of their action, manifested chiefly in 
a raising of temperature; those above violet are said to be 
chemical, on account of the chemical effects they produce. 
It is known that the solar light, which is probably the most 
universal and most active health producing agent, owes this 
property to the action of these chemical radiations, which are 
so destructive to the microbes. The idea, therefore, lay near 
that, especially in certain eruptive diseases, he application of 
appropriate rays might diminish the irritation of the skin, 
especially if the irritation has gone so far as to produce sup- 
puration; and this idea, in fact, originated the treatment of 
smallpox by means of red light. In this disease only the 
calorific radiations are allowed to come in contact with the 
skin, while the exciting and destructive action of the chemical 



322 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

rays are entirely suppressed, and in this way the inflammatory 
effect of the eruption is reduced to a minimum. On the other 
hand, the question suggested itself whether it was not possi- 
ble to cure bacteriological diseases by the exclusive employ- 
ment of the violet, chemical radiations which prove so effec- 
tive in the destruction of microbes. 

This summary is the rationale of phototherapeutics to 
which Professor Finsen, of Copenhagen, was the first to call 
the attention of the medical world, and which he applies for 
the cure of various diseases. In his treatment of smallpox, 
the patients are kept in rooms from which all chemical rays 
are excluded, the light being filtered through heavy red cur- 
tains or window panes of the same color. The same method 
has also been applied to measles with marked success, as well 
as to a whole series of other chronic skin diseases, which, as 
regards their cause and their course, are likewise affected by 
the light. 

To concentrate the solar rays Professor Finsen uses 
hollow lenses filled with water that has been colored by means 
of a copper ammoniac solution. This water filters the light, 
absorbs the calorific rays, and lets penetrate only those chem- 
ical rays which are required for the therapeutical purpose. 

— Londsberg. 



BEST THOUGHTS OE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 323 



BEST THOUGHTS OF THE SEVENTEENTH 
CENTURY. 

Their heads sometimes so little, that there is no room for wit; 
sometimes so long, that there is no wit for so much room. 

—Thomas Fuller, 1608-1661. 
Often the cockloft is empty in those whom Nature hath built so 
many stories high. — Thomas Fuller, Andronicus. 
Dear beauteous death, the jewel of the just! 

Shining nowhere but in the dark; 
What mysteries do lie beyond thy dust, 

Could man outlook that mark! — Henry Vaughan, 1621-1695. 
And yet, as angels in some brighter dreams 

Call to the soul when man doth sleep, 
Some strange thoughts transcend our wonted themes, 

And into glory peep. — Henry Vaughan. 
Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue. 

— Francis Due De Rochefoucauld, 1613-1680. 
The pleasure of love is in loving. We are happier in the passion we 
feel than in that we inspire. — Rochefoucauld. 

In their first passion, women love their lovers, in all others they 
love love. — Rochefoucauld. 

Beside, 'tis known he could speak Greek 

A3 naturally as pigs squeak; 

That Latin was no more difficile 

Than to a blackbird 'tis to whistle. — Samuel Butler, 1600-1680. 

Whatever sceptic could inquire for, 

For every why he had a wherefore. — Butler, Hudibras. 

He knew what's what, and that 's as high 

As metaphysic wit can fly. — Butler, Hudibras. 

And prove their doctrine orthodox, 

By apostolic blows and knocks. — Butler, Hudibras. 

Compound for sins they are inclined to, 

By damning those they have no mind to. — Butler, Hudibras. 

The world in all doth but two nations bear, 

The good, the bad, and these mixed everywhere. 

— Andrew Marvell, 1620- 1678. 
Learn to read slow ; all other graces 
Will follow in their proper places. — William Walker, 1623-1684. 



324 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Books like proverbs receive their chief value from the stamp and 
esteem of ages through which they have passed. 

— Sir William Temple, 1628- 1699. 
And there's a lust in man no charm can tame 
Of loudly publishing our neighbor's name; 
On eagle's wings immortal scandals fly 
While virtuous actions are but born and die. 

— Stephen Harvey, Juvenal. 

None but the brave deserve the fair. — John Dryden, 1631-1701. 

For pity melts the mind to love. — Dryden. 

He raised a mortal to the skies, 
She drew an angel down. — Dryden. 

Great wits are sure to madness near allied, 

And thin partitions do their bounds divide. — Dryden. 

Beware the fury of a patient man. — Dryden. 

And virtue though in rags will keep me warm. — Dryden. 

Ill habits gather by unseen degrees, 

As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas. — Dryden. 

Errors like straws upon the surface flow; 

He who would search for pearls must dive below. — Dryden. 

It beareth the name of Vanity Fair, because the town where it is 
kept is lighter than vanity. — John Bunyan, 1628-1688. 

Some things are of that nature as to make 
One's fancy chuckle while his heart doth ache. 

— Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress. 

I preach as never sure to preach again, 

And as a dying man to dying men. — Richard Baxter, 1615-1691. 

And choose an author as you choose a friend. 

— Earl of Roscommon, 1663- 1684. 

Immodest words admit of no defense, 

For want of decency is want of sense. — Earl of Roscommon. 

If God were not a necessary Being of himself, he might almost 
seem to be made for the use and benefit of men. 

—John Tillotson, 1616-1704. 

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, 

Praise Him all creatures here below ! 

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host ! 

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost \— Thomas Ken, 1637-1711. 

To their own second and sober thoughts. — Matthew Henry, 1662-1714. 

Here is bread which strengthens man's heart, and therefore called 
the staff of hie.— Matthew Henry. 

The better day the better deed.— Sir John Holt, 1643- 1709. 



BEST THOUGHTS OF SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 325 

May I govern my passion with absolute sway, 

And grow wiser and better as my strength wears away. 

— Dr. Walter Pope, 1630-1714. 
I never could believe that Providence had sent a few men into the 
world, ready booted and spurred to ride, and millions ready saddled and 

bridled to be ridden. — Richard Rumbold, 1685. 

Let us consider the reason of the case, for nothing is law that is 

not reason. — Sir John Powell, 1713. 

Angels listen when she speaks : 

She's my delight, all mankind's wonder; 

But my jealous heart would break, 

Should we live one day asunder. — Earl of Rochester, 1647-1680. 

Here lies our sovereign lord the king, 

Whose word no man relies on; 
He never says a foolish thing, 

Nor ever does a wise one. — Earl of Rochester. (Written on the 

Bedchamber Door of Charles II.) 
When change itself can give no more, 

'T is easy to be true. — Sir Charles Sedley, 1639-1701. 
Of all those arts in which the wise excel, 
Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well. 

— Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, 1649-1720. Essay on Poetry. 
Read Homer once, and you can read no more, 
For all books else appear so mean, so poor; 
Verse will seem prose ; but still persist to read, 
And Homer will be all the books you need. — Sheffield. 

If on my theme I rightly think, 

There are five reasons why men drink: 

Good wine, a friend, because I'm dry, 

Or lest I should be by and by, 

Or any other reason why. — Henry Aldrich, 1 647-1 710. 

woman ! lovely woman ! nature made thee 

To temper man; we had been brutes without you. 

Angels are painted fair, to look like you: 

There's in you all that we believe of heaven; 

Amazing brightness, purity, and truth, 

Eternal joy, and everlasting love. — Thomas Otway, 1651-1685. 

What mighty ills have not been done by woman? 
Who was 't betrayed the Capitol? A woman! 
Who lost Mark Antony the world? A woman \ 
Who was the cause of a long ten years' war, 
And laid at last old Troy in ashes? Woman! 
Destructive, damnable, deceitful woman ! — Thomas Otway. 

1 knew a very wise man that believed that, if a man were permitted 
to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of 
a nation. — Andrew Fletcher, of Saltoun, 1653-1716. 



326 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

When Greeks joined Greeks, then was the tug of war. 

—Nathaniel Lee, 1655- 1692. 

Vows with so much passion, swears with so much grace, 

That 'tis a kind of heaven to be deluded by him.— Nathaniel Lee. 
How fading are the joys we dote upon! 

Like apparitions seen and gone; 

But those which soonest take their flight 

Are the most exquisite and strong; 

Like angel's visits, short and bright, 

Mortality's too weak to bear them long. — John N orris, 1657-1711. 

I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem 
to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting 
myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble, or a prettier shell 
than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered 
before me. — Isaac Newton, 1642-1727. 

Pity's akin to love. — Thomas Southerne, 1660-1746. 

A man who could make so vile a pun would not scruple to pick 
a pocket. — John Dennis, 1657-1734. 

They will not let my play run ; and yet they steal my thunder. 

— John Dennis. 

We bear it calmly, though a ponderous woe, 

And still adore the hand that gives the blow. 

— John Pomfret, 1667-1703. 

Heaven is not always angry when he strikes, 

But most chastisest those whom most he likes. — John Pomfret. 

Wherever God erects a house of prayer, 

The Devil always builds a chapel there; 

And 'twill be found upon examination, 

The latter has the largest congregation. — Daniel Defoe, 1663-1731. 

Great families of yesterdjay we show, 

And lords, whose parents were the Lord knows who. — Daniel Defoe. 

It is a maxim with me that no man was ever written out of reputa- 
tion but by himself. — Richard Bentley, 1662-1742. 

Be to her virtues very kind; 

Be to her faults a little blind. — Matthew Prior, 1664- 1 721. 

For hope is but the dream of those that wake. — Matthew Prior. 

Who breathes must suffer, and who thinks must mourn ; 

And he alone is blessed who ne'er was born. — Matthew Prior. 

The end must justify the means. — Matthew Prior. 

Nobles and heralds, by your leave, 

Here lies what once was Matthew Prior; 

The son of Adam and of Eve: 

Can Bourbon or Nassau claim higher? 

— M. Prior, Epitaph on himself. 

They never taste who always drink, 

They always talk who never think. — Prior. 



BEST THOUGHTS OF SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 327 

God save our gracious king, 
Long live our noble king, 

God save the king. — Henry Carey, 1663- 1743. 
Aldeborontiphoscophornio ! 
Where left you Chrononhotonthologos? — Henry Carey. 

His cogitative faculties immersed 

In cogibundity of cogitation. — Henry Carey. 

So, naturalists observe, a flea 

Has smaller fleas that on him prey; 

And these have smaller still to bite 'em; 

And so proceed ad infinitum. — Jonathan Swift, 1667-1745. 

Libertas et natale solum; 

Fine words! I wonder where you stole 'em. — Jonathan Swift. 

'Tis an old maxim in the schools, 

That flattery 's the food of fools; 

Yet now and then your men of wit 

Will condescend to take a bit. — Jonathan Swift. 

And he gave it for his opinion, that whoever could make two ears 
of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where 
only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more 
essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put 
together. — Jonathan Swift. 

Censure is the tax a man pays to the public for being eminent. — 
Jonathan Swift. 

Perish that thought! No, never be it said 

That Fate itself could awe the soul of Richard. 

Hence, babbling dreams ; you threaten here in vain : 

Conscience, avaunt, Richard's himself again ! 

Hark! the shrill trumpet sounds, to horse, away, 

My soul's in arms and eager for the fray. — Colley Cibber, 1671-1757. 

The real Simon Pure. — Susannah Ccntlivre. — 1667-1723. 

Lash the vice and follies of the age. — Susannah Centlivre. 

(Safd of Lady Elizabeth Hastings.) Though her mien carries much 
more invitation than command, to behold her is an immediate check to 
loose behavior; to love her was a liberal education. — Sir Richard Steele, 
1671-1729. 

Will Honeycomb calls these ever-offending ladies the outrageously 
virtuous. — Sir Richard Steele. 

'T is not in mortals to command success, 

But we'll do more, Sempronius ; we'll deserve it. — Joseph Addison, 
1672-1719. 

My voice is still for war. 
Gods ! can a Roman senate long debate 
Which of the two to choose, slavery or death. — Joseph Addison. 



328 BEST THOUGHTS OF BKST THINKERS. 

A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty. 

Is worth a whole eternity in bondage. — Joseph Addison. 

The woman that deliberates is lost. — Joseph Addison. 

What a pity is it 
That we can die but once to save our country. — Joseph Addison. 
When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, 
The post of honour is a private station. — Joseph Addison. 
It must be so — Plato, thou reasonest well ! — 
Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, 
This longing after immortality? 
Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror, 
Of falling into naught? Why shrinks the soul 
Back on herself, and startles at destruction? 
'Tis the divinity that stirs within us ; 
'Tis heaven itself that points out an hereafter, 
And intimates eternity to man. 

Eternity ! thou pleasing, dreadful thought ! — Joseph Addison. 
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself 
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years, 
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, 
Unhurt amidst the war of elements, 

The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds. — Joseph Addison. 
The spacious firmament on high, 
With all the blue ethereal sky, 
And spangled heavens, a shining frame, 
Their great Original proclaim. — Joseph Addison. 
(Speaking of pretended patriots.) All those men have their price 

Sir Robert Walpole, — 1676-1745. 
Anything but history, for history must be false. — Sir Robert Walpole. 
Were I so tall to reach the pole, 
Or grasp the ocean with my span, 
I must be measur'd by my soul : 

The mind's the standard of the man. — Jsaac Watts. — 1674-1748. 
To God the Father, God the Son, 
And God the Spirit, three in one; 
Be honor, praise, and glory given, 
By all on earth, and all in heaven. — Isaac Watts. 
Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber ! 
Holy angels guard thy bed ! 
Heavenly blessings without number 
Gently falling on thy head. — Isaac Watts. 
For Satan finds some mischief still 
For idle hands to do. — Isaac Watts. 

Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, 
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak. 

— William Congrcve, 1670-1729. 



BEST THOUGHTS OF SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 329 

Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, 

Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned. — Congreve. 

For blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds, 

And though a late, a sure reward succeeds. — Congreve. 

Thus grief still treads upon the heels of pleasure; 

Married in haste, we may repent at leisure. — Congreve. 

Defer not till to-morrow to be wise, 

To-morrow's sun to thee may never rise. — Congreve. 

To die is landing on some silent shore, ; 

Where billows never break, nor tempests roar ; 
Ere well we feel the friendly stroke, 't is o'er. 

— Samuel Garth, 1670-1719. 
As if misfortune made the throne her seat, 
And none could be unhappy but the great. 

—Nicholas Rowe, 1673-1718. 
None think the great unhappy but the great. — Young. 

Westward the course of empire takes its way; 

The four first acts already past, 
A fifth shall close the drama with the day; 

Time's noblest offspring is the last. 

— Bishop Berkeley, 1684- 1753. 

History is philosophy teaching by examples.— Henry St. John, Vis- 
count Bolingbroke, 1678- 1 751. 

'Twas for the good of my country that I should be abroad. 

— George Farquhar, 1678-1707. 

Necessity is the mother of invention. — Farquhar. 

Still an angel appear to each lover beside, 

But still be a woman to you. — Thomas Parnell, 1679-1716. 

Let those love now who never loved before, 

Let those who always loved now love the more. — Parnell. 

The picture, placed the busts between, 

Adds to the thought much strength; 
Wisdom and Wit are little seen, 

But Folly's at full length.— James Brereton, 1685-1740. 

On Beau Nash's picture at full length, between the 
busts of Sir Isaac Newton and Mr. Pope. 

Tender-handed stroke a nettle, 

And it stings you for your pains; 
Grasp it like a man of mettle, 

And it soft as silk remains. 
'Tis the same with common natures: 

Use 'em kindly, they rebel; 
But be rough as nutmeg graters, 

And the rogues obey you well. — Aaron Hill, 1685-1750. 



330 B£ST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



LACONICS. 

BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT SCIENCE. 

What are the sciences but maps of universal laws; and universal- 
laws but the channels of universal power; and universal power but the 
outgoings of a supreme universal mind? — E. Thomson. 

The person who thinks there can be any real conflict between science- 
and religion must be either very young in science or very ignorant in re- 
ligion. — Prof. Henry. 

Every great scientific truth goes through three stages. — First, people- 
say it conflicts with the Bible. — Next, they say it had been discovered 
before. — Lastly, they say they always believed it. — Agassiz. 

Science is but a mere heap of facts, not a golden chain of truths, if 
we refuse to link it to the throne of God. — F. P. Cobbe. 

In science, reason is the guide; in poetry, taste. The object of the 
one is truth, which is uniform and indivisible; the object of the other is. 
beauty, which is multiform and varied. — Colton. 

Science is the topography of ignorance. — O. W. Holmes. 

The highest reach of human science is the recognition of human' 
ignorance. — Sir W. Hamilton. 

Science is a first rate piece of furniture for a man's upper chamber,, 
if he has common sense on the ground floor. — O. W. Holmes. 

Science corrects the old creeds, sweeps away, with every new percep- 
tion, our infantile catechisms, and necessitates a faith commensurate with 
the grander orbits and universal laws which it discloses. — Emerson. 

I will frankly tell you that my experience in prolonged scientific in- 
vestigations convinces me that a belief in God — a God who is behind 
and within the chaos of vanishing points of human knowledge — adds a 
wonderful stimulus to the man who attempts to penetrate into the regions 
of the unknown. — Agassis. 

Art and science have their meeting point in method. — Bulwer. 

The study of science teaches young men to think, while the study of 
the classics teaches them to express thought. — /. S. Mill. 

God pity the man of science who believes in nothing but what he can 
prove by scientific methods ; for if ever a human being needed divine 
pity, he does. — Dr. J. G. Holland. 



THEOLOGY and RELIGION. 



333 



THEOLOGY AND RELIGION. 

The word Theology, (discourse concerning God), did 
not come into Christian use until the fourth century. Reli- 
gion " exists as an inward feeling — a sense of duty toward 
a Being, or beings, regarded as divine and supreme — and 
also as an outward expression of that feeling in acts of wor- 
ship or service." — Strong. 

The science of Religion analyzes and classifies the con- 
vctions and feelings of man's moral nature, and the various 
forms of worship in which these convictions are naturally 
expressed. Theology deals only with the facts of conscious- 
ness or of revelation out of which religion grows. Religion 
proceeds both objectively and subjectively to educe truths 
from the facts of revelation, or from the facts of conscious- 
ness. These facts and principles are then reduced to formal 
statements of doctrine, and as such, they constitute the sci- 
ence of theology. Theology is, therefore, an outgrowth of 
religion ; not religion an outgrowth of theology. 

Many of the religions of the world have almost no the- 
ology, while it is also true that many systems of theology are 
almost devoid of religion. Yet each is dependent upon the 
the other in some measure, but in the order of development, 
religion comes first, theology afterwards. 

Religion is the spirit, theology the formal statement in 
verbal creed. "The letter killeth, the spirit maketh alive," 
and yet the spirit of religion can hardly be addressed to the 
understanding of the unregenerate, except by the letter of 
theology. To be subservient to each others best interests, 
care is needed that the spirit do not wander aimlessly beyond 
the bounds of reason, and also that the letter do not smother 
the spirit with formality. 



334 BEST THOUGHTS 0E BEST THINKERS. 

In furtherance of this unity and diversity between 
religion and theology, we quote the best thoughts of some of 
the best thinkers along this line: 

True religion extends also to the intellect and the heart. 
Intellect is in vain if it lead not to emotion, and emotion is 
vain if not enlightened by intellect ; and both are vain if not 
guided by truth and leading to duty 624 — Tryon Edwards. 

Religion is not a dogma, not an emotion but a service. — 
Our redemption is not of the head 374 alone, nor of the 
heart 375 alone, but pre-eminently of the life, as the only in- 
fallible criterion of what we really are. — Not belief, not 
emotion, but obedience is the test. — Mere belief would make 
religion a mere theology. — Mere emotion 394 would make it 
a mere excitement. — While the true divine of it is a life, be- 
gotten of grace in the depths of the human soul, subduing 
to Christ all the powers of the heart and life, and incarnating 
itself in patient, steady, sturdy service — in doing the will 421 
of God.— R. D. Hitchcock. 

Religion is as necessary to reason as reason is to religion. 
The one cannot exist without the other. A reasoning 391 
being would lose his reason, in an attempt to account for the 
great phenomena of nature, had he not a Supreme Being to 
refer to; and well has it been said, that if there had been 
no God, mankind would have been obliged to imagine 386 one. 

— Washington. 

Inward religion without the outward show of it, is like 
a tree without fruit, useless; and the outward show of re- 
ligion without inward sincerity, is like a tree without heart, 
lifeless. — Venning. 

If we subject everything to reason, our religion will 
have nothing supernatural or mysterious; if we violate the 
principles of reason, our religion will be absurd and ridicul- 
ous. — Pascal 

The faith that only reaches to the head, will never sanc- 
tify the heart. Knowledge, without experience, will no more 
sanctify than painted fire will burn, or the sight of water 
cleanse. It may do good to others, as the knowledge of 



THEOLOGY AND RELIGION. 335 

Noah's carpenters was useful to him, while they perished in 
the flood.— S. H. Cox. 

We can no more have exact religious thinking without 
theology, 616 than exact mensuration and astronomy without 
mathematics, or exact iron-making without chemistry. 

— John Hall. 

Theology is but the science of mind 370 applied to God. 
As schools change, theology must necessarily change. 
Truth 471 is everlasting, but our ideas of truth are not. The- 
ology is but our ideas of truth classified and arranged. 

— Beecher. 

What makes a Christian is not the theology we have in 
our heads, but the faith and love we have in our hearts. 
— We must, indeed, have a clear statement of truth in order- 
ly propositions, that is, a system of dogmas, to have anything 
to trust to at all. There can be no faith in an unseen person 
but through the medium of thoughts concerning him, and 
these thoughts 445 put into words are a creed. 451 — Anonymous. 

The way to begin a Christian life is not to study the- 
ology. — Piety before theology. Right 631 living will produce 
right thinking. — Theologies are well in their place, but re- 
pentance and love must come before all other experiences. 

— Beecher. 

Although the term theology came into use in the fourth 
century, it was much restricted in its meaning, and not until 
the time of Abelard, (b. 1079) did its scope enlarge so as to 
include anything more than the doctrine of God, absolutely, 
and without any relative consideration as between God and 
man. As now used, theology includes five other branches, 
viz.; Cosmology, Anthropology, Soteriology, Eschatology, 
and Ecclesiology. These subdivisions may be briefly de- 
fined, thus: 

Cosmology includes the doctrine of the world in relation 
to God. 

Anthropology 608 includes the doctrine of man in rela- 
tion to God. 



33^ BEST THOUGHTS OE BEST THINKERS. 

Soteriology includes the doctrine of salvation through 
the person and work of Christ. 

Eschatology includes the doctrine of the final states of 
all men. 

Ecclesiology includes the doctrine of the Church, its 
constitution and government. 

Thus theology may be defined as the science which treats 
of God and the universe in all their known relations to each 
other. 

As the tree is known by its fruits, so the value of the 
study of theology, as made manifest to the world through 
the leading divines who have developed the science, can only 
be judged by religion. Not that religion is the outgrowth 
of theology — it is the reverse — but religion reflects the- 
ology; and so the best thoughts of best thinkers about re- 
ligion will afford us the truest estimate of theology, in its 
practical aspect. To this end we therefore submit the follow- 
ing 



LACONICS. 

BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT RELIGION. 

There are but two religions, — Christianity and paganism, the wor- 
ship of God and idolatry. A third between these is not possible. Where 
idolatry ends, there Christianity begins; and where idolatry begins, there 
Christianity ends. — Jacobi. 

If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be without it? 
— Franklin. 

My principles in respect of religious interests are two, — one is that 
the church shall not meddle with politics, and the government 6hall not 
meddle with religion. — Kossuth. 

There never was law or sect or opinion that did so magnify good- 
ness^*) as the Christian religion doth. — Bacon. 

The call to religion is not a call to be better than your fellows, but to 
be better than yourself. — Beecher. 



laconics. 337 

Religion finds the love of happiness and the principles of duty sepa- 
rated in us ; and its mission — its masterpiece is, to reunite them. — Vinet. 

Unless we place our religion and our treasure in the same thing re- 
ligion will always be sacrificed. — Epictetus. 

The word of God proves the truth of religion ; the corruption of man, 
its necessity ; government, its advantages. — Stanislaus. 

When the religion of the Bible is looked upon as a science, it may 
seem intricate and mysterious, but when received as a statement of truth 
and a guide to duty, it is plain to the understanding, and most reasonable 
in all its requirements. — Tryon Edwards. 

Anything that makes religion a second object makes it no object. — 
He who offers God a second place offers him no place. — Ruskin. 

Over all the movements of life religion scatters her favors, but re- 
serves the choicest, her divine blessings, for the last hour. — Logan. 

I extend the circle of religion very widely. — Many men fear and 
love God, and have a sincere desire to serve him, whose views of re- 
ligious truth are very imperfect, 622 and in some points utterly false. — 
But may not many such persons have a state of heart372 acceptable 
before God? — Cecil. 

Religion, if it be true, is central truth; and all knowledge which is 
not gathered round it, and quickened and illuminated by it, is hardly 
worthy the name. — Channing. 

All the principles which religion teaches, and all the habits which it 
forms, are favorable to strength of mind. It will be found that whatever 
purifies, also fortifies the heart. — Blair. 

True religion teaches us to reverence what is under us, to recognize 
humility, poverty, wretchedness, suffering, andj death as divine things. — 
Goethe. 

The flower of youth never appears more beautiful than when it bends 
toward the suni76 f righteousness. — M. Henry. 

Nothing can be hostile to religion which is agreeable to justice. — 
Gladstone. 

No science* 60 is better attested than the religion of the Bible.— Sir 
Isaac Newton. 

Men will wrangle for religion; write for it; fight for it; die for it; 
anything but live for it. — Colton. 

A ritual religion is generally light and gay, not serious in spirit; all 
religions being so, which cast responsibility into outward observances. 
— Martineau. 

Whether religion be true or false, it must be necessarily granted to 
be the only wise principle and safe hypothesis for a man to live and die 
by. — Tillotson. 



33% BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

I have lived long enough to know what I did not at one time be- 
lieve — that no society can be upheld in happiness and honor without the 
sentiment of religion. — Laplace. 

Political and professional fame cannot last forever, but a conscience 
void of offense before God and man is an inheritance for eternity. Re- 
ligion, therefore, is a necessary and indispensable element in any human 
character.623 There is no living without it. Religion is the tie that 
connects man with his* Creator,627 an d holds him to his throne. If that 
tie is broken or sundered, he floats away a worthless atom in the universe, 
its proper attractions all gone, its destiny thwarted, and its whole future 
nothing but darkness, desolation and death. A man with no sense of re- 
ligious duty is he whom the scriptures describe in so terse and terrific a 
manner, as "living without hope and without God in the world." Such 
a man is out of his proper being, out of the circle of all his duties, out of 
the circle of all his happiness, and away, far, far away from the purposes 
of his creation. — Daniel Webster. 

Should a man happen :o err in supposing the Christian religion to be 
true, he could not be a loser by the mistake. But how irreparable is his 
loss, and how inexpressible his danger, who should err in supposing it to 
be false. — Pascal. 

We know, and what is better, we feel inwardly, that religion is the 
basis of civil society, and the source of all good and of all comfort. — 
Burke. 

It is a great dishonor to religion to imagine that it is an enemy to 
mirth and cheerfulness, and a severe exacter of pensive looks and solemn 
faces. — Walter Scott. 

Religion is equally the basis of private virtue and public faith ; of the 
happiness of the individual and the prosperity of the nation. — W. Barrow. 

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, 
religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man 
claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these pillars of 
human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. 
And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be main- 
tained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of 
refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience 
both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of 
religious principles. — Washington. 

It was an admirable and true saying of Plutarch, "That a city may 
as well be built in the air, as a commonwealth or a kingdom be either 
constituted or preserved without the support of religion." — Porteus. 

Religion would not have enemies, if it were not an enemy to their 
vices. — Massillon. 

I have known what the enjoyments and advantages of this life are, 
and what the more refined pleasures which learning and intellectual power 
can bestow ; and with all the experience which three score years can give, 
I, now, on the eve of my departure, declare to you that health is a great 



, 



laconics. 339 

blessing, — competence obtained by honorable industry, a great blessing, — 
and a great blessing it is to have kind, faithful, and loving friends and! 
relatives ; but that the greatest of all blessings, as it is the most ennobling 
of all privileges, is to be a Christian. — Coleridge. 

The Christian is the highest style of man. — Young. 

Culture of intellect, without religion in the heart, is only civilized 
barbarism and disguised animalism. — Bunsen. 

Religion cannot pass away. The burning of a little straw may hide 
the stars of the sky, but the stars are there, and will reappear.i?7 — 
Carlyle. 

Religion presents few difficulties to the humble; many to the proud; 
insuperable ones to the vain. — Hare. 

If I could choose what of all things would at the time be the most 
delightful and useful to me, I should prefer a firm religious belief to every 
other blessing; for this makes life a discipline of goodness; creates new 
hopes when all earthly ones vanish ; throws over the decay of existence 
the most gorgeous of all lights; awakens life even in death; makes even 
torture and shame the ladder of ascent to paradise; and far above all 
combinations of earthly hopes, calls up the most delightful visions of the 
future, the scrutiny of everlasting joys, where the sensualist and the 
sceptic view only gloom, decay, annihilation and despair. — Sir H. Davy. 

Independent of its connection with human destiny hereafter, I believe 
the fate of a republican government is indissolubly bound up with the fate 
of the Christian religion, and that a people who reject its only faith will 
find themselves the slaves of their own evil passions or of arbitrary power. 
— Lewis Cass. 

The task and triumph of religion is to make men and nations true and 
upright and just in all their dealings, and to bring all law as well as all 
conduct into subjection and conformity with the law of God. — H. J. Van 
Dyke. 

It is no good reason for a man's religion that he was born and 
brought up in it ; for then a Turk would have as much reason to be a Turk 
as a Christian a Christian GiG—Chillingworth. 

Religion cultivated to the absolute neglect of science, would produce 
a reign of superstition, tyranny and barbarism like that which covered! 
Europe in the dark ages of the church. Science cultivated to the utter 
neglect of religion, would produce a reign of infidelity, impiety, and 
sensuality. The two interests united correct and perfect each other.— 
C W. Shields. 

The religion of the gospel has power, immense power, over mankind; 
direct and indirect, positive and negative, restraining and aggressive. 
Civilization, law, order, morality, the family, all that elevates woman, 
or blesses society, or gives peace to the nations, all these are the fruits 
of Christianity, the full power of which, even for this world, could never 
be appreciated till it should be taken away.— Tryon Edwards. 



340 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

The great comprehensive truths, written in letters of light 177 on 
every page of our history, are these; Human happiness has no perfect 
security but freedom; fredom, none but virtue; virtue, none but knowl- 
edge; and neither freedom nor virtue has any vigor or immortal hope 
except in the principles of the Christian faith and the sanctions of the 
Christian religion. — Quincy. 

The Christian religion is one that diffuses among the people a pure, 
benevolent and universal system of ethics, adlapted to every condition of 
life, and recommended as the will and reason of the Supreme Deity, and 
enforced by sanctions of eternal punishmnt. — Gibbon. 

It was religion, which, by teaching men their near relation to God, 827 
awakened in them the consciousnesses l of their importance as individuals. 
It was the struggle for religious rights, which opened their eyes to all 
their rights. It was resistance to religious usurpation which led men to 
withstand political oppression. It was religious discussion*^ which 
roused the minds of all classes to free and vigorous thought. It was 
religion which armed the martyr and patriot in England against arbitrary 
power ; which braced the spirit of our fathers against the perils of the 
ccean and wilderness, and sent them to found here the freest and most 
equal state on earth. — Channing. 

He that is a good man is three-quarters of his way toward the being 
a good Christian, wheresoever he lives or whatsoever he is called. — South. 

Religion does what philosophy could never do. — It shows equal deal- 
ings of heaven to the happy and the unhappy, and levels all human en- 
joyments to nearly the same standard. — It offers to both rich and poor 
the same happiness hereafter, and equal hopes to aspire after it. — Goldsmith. 

The writers against religion, while they oppose every system, are 
wisely careful never to set up any of their own. — Burke. 

When men cease to be faithful to God, 627 he who expects to find 
them so to each other626 w iH be much disappointed. — Bp. Home. 

It will cost something to be religious ; it will cost more to be not 
so. — /. Mason. 

Depend upon it, religion is, in its essence, the most gentlemanly 
thing in the world. It will gentilize, if unmixed with cant; and I know 
nothing else that will, alone. — Coleridge. 

We live in the midst of blessings till we are utterly insensible to 
their greatness, and of the source from whence they flow. We speak of 
our civilization, our arts, our freedom, our laws, and forget entirely 
how large a share is due to Christianity. Blot Christianity out of the 
page of man's history, and what would his laws have been — what his 
civilization? Christianity is mixed up with our very being and our 
daily life; there is not a familiar object around us which does not 
wear a different aspect because the light of Christian love is on it — 
not a law which does not owe its truth and gentleness to Christianity 
— not a custom which cannot be traced, in all its holy, healthful parts, 
to the gospel.— Sir A. Park. 



LACONICS. 341 

" Let them learn first," says Paul, " to show piety at home." Re- 
ligion should begin in the family. The holiest sanctuary is home. The 
family altar is more venerable than that of the cathedral. The educa- 
tion of the soul for eternity should begin and be carried on at the 
fireside. — Anonymous. 

A man who puts aside his religion because he is going into society, 
is likeiB3 one taking off his shoes because he is about to walk upon 
thorns. — Cecil. 

Those who make religion to consist in the contempt of this worfd 
and its enjoyments, are under a very fatal and dangerous mistake. 
As life is the gift of heaven, it is religion to enjoy it. He, therefore, 
who can be happy in himself, and who contributes all his power toward 
the happiness of others, answers most effectually the ends of his creation, 
is an honor to his nature, and a pattern to mankind. — Addison. 

Measure not men by Sundays without regard to what they do all 
the week after. — Fuller. 

The loss of popular respect for religion is 1 ^ the dry-rot of social 
institutions. The idea of God as the Creator and Father of all man- 
kind is, in the moral world, what!5i gravitation is in the natural; it 
holds all together, and causes them to revolve around a common center. 
Take this away, and men drop apart; there is no such thing as col- 
lective humanity, but only separate molecules, with no more cohesion 
than so many grains of sand. — H. M. Field. 

The head37i truly enlightened will presently have a wonderful 
influence in purifying the heart ;372 and the heart really affected with 
goodness, will much conduce to the directing of the head. — Sprat. 

Religion is^i the best armor in the world, but the worst cioak. 

— John Newton. 

Let your religion be seen. Lamps do not talk, but they do shine. 
A lighthouse sounds no drum, it beats no gong; yet, far over the 
waters, its friendly light is seen by the mariner. 172 — T. L. Cuyler. 

If our religion is not true, we are bound to change it; if it is 
true we are bound to propagate it. 184 *85 — Whateley. 

By living according to the rules of religion a man becomes the 
wisest the best and the happiest creature that he is capable of being. 
Honesty, industry, with continual serenity, are the best preservatives, 
too, of life and health, so that take man as an individual, religion is 
his guard, his perfection, his beauty, and his glory. — This will make 
him a light in the world, shining brightly, and enlightening many round 
about him. — Bp. Burnet. 

There are few signs In a soul's state more alarming than that of 
religious indifference ; that is, the spirit of thinking all religions are 
equally false.— F. W. Robertson. 

The best perfection of a religious man is to do common things 
in a perfect manner. — Bonaventura. 



34 2 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

The religions we count false, may, for a time, have had their use, 
being in their origin, faint, though misunderstood echoes of an early 
divine revelation, and also as Emerson says, " Affirmations of the con- 
science, correcting the evil customs of their times." — Tryon Edwards. 

What I want is, not to possess religion, but to have a religion that 
shall possess me. — Charles Kingsley. 

I would give nothing for that man's religion, whose very dog and cat 
are not the better for it— Rowland Hill. 

While men believe in the possibilities of children being religious, 
they are largely failing to make them so, because they are offering 
them not a child's but a man's religion — men's forms of truth and 
men's forms of experience. — Phillips Brooks. 

If we thinK of religion only as a means of escaping what we call 
the wrath to come, we shall not escape it ; we are 5 under the burden 
of death, if we care only for ourselves. — Froude. 

Religious contention is the devil's harvest. — Fontaine. 

No man's religion ever survives his morals.— South. 

All belief that does not render us more happy, more fre*e, more 
loving, more active, more calm, is, I fear, an erroneous and supersti- 
tious belief. — Lavater. 

The noblest charities, the best fruits of learning, the richest dis- 
coveries, the best institutions of law and justice, every greatest thing 
the world has seen, represents, more or less directly, the fruitfulness 
and creativeness of religion. — Horace Bushnell. 

There is something in religion, when rightly apprehended, that is 
masculine and grand. It removes those little desires which are " the 
constant hectic of a fool." — Cecil. 

If we traverse the world it is possible to find cities without walls, 
without letters, without kings, without wealth, without coin, without 
schools and theaters ; but a city without a temple, or that practiseth 
not prayer and the like, no one ever saw. — Plutarch. 

A life that will bear the inspection of men and God, is the only 
certificate of true religion. — Johnson. 

You may discover tribes of men without policy, or laws, or cities, 
or any of the arts of life ; but nowhere will you find them without 
some form of religion. — Blair. 

Religion is the final center of repose; the goal to which all things 
tend; apart from which man is a shadow, his very existence a riddle, 
and the stupendous scenes of nature which surround him as unmeaning 
as the leaves which the sibyl scattered in the wind. — Robert Hall. 

Religious opportunities are like the books of the sibyl, more and 
more valuable, the fewer there are that remain. 153 — Tryon Edwards. 

Look out for a people entirely void of religion, and if you find 
them at all, be assured they are but a few degrees removed from the 
brutes.oie— Hume. 



LACONICS. 343 

It is the property of the religious spirit to be the most refining of 
all influences. — No external advantages, no culture of the tastes, no 
habit of command, no association with the elegant or even depth of 
affection can bestow that delicacy, that grandeur of bearing which 
belong only to the mind accustomed to celestial conversation. — Emerson. 
Our religion is one that dares to be understood; that offers itself 
to the search of the inquisitive, and to the inspection of the severest 
and most awakened reason. For being secure of her substantial truth 
and purity, she knows that for her to be seen and looked into is to be 
embraced and admired, as there needs no greater argument for men 
to love the light than to see it. — Johnson. 

True religion carries health and strength into the soul. — It regu- 
lates all things; subordinates all things to their just positions; with- 
draws from men no faculty; ties up no power; extinguishes no in- 
stinct; imprisons no part of the mind; but oniy regulates and directs. 
— Religion is only another word for the right use of a man's whole 
self, instead of a use that is wrong and ruinous. — It puts men into 
connection with God; it brings them into harmonious relation with 
their fellow men; it gives them direction for the achievement of duty; 
it opens to them the coming world, and inspires them with ardent 
desires for it; it makes them love whatever is good, and abhor what- 
ever is bad; it inspires reverence, obedience, and love toward God; 
it inculcates justice, mercy and benevolence toward men; it endows 
us with courage, with patience, with contentment ; it commands indus- 
try, frugality and hospitality; it enjoins honesty, truthfulness, up- 
rightness, simplicity, and integrity; and that men, in their ignorance 
and weakness, may feel the importance of virtue and true piety, it 
reveals the immortality of man's nature, the glory of the heavenly state, 
and the sympathy of God with the struggles of human life; and above 
all, it sets before men, in a perfect pattern, the example of Christ, who 
was tempted in all points like as we are, and yet without sin, teaching us 
both by precept and by his example to be like him.?* 88 149 151 

— H. W. Beecher. 
It has been said that true religion will make a man a more thorough 
gentleman than all the courts in Europe. And it is true that you may 
see simple laboring men as thorough gentlemen as any duke, simply 
because they have learned to fear God; and fearing Him, to restrain 
themselves, which is the very root and essence of all good breeding. 

C. Kings ley. 
Religion is intended for both worlds, and right living for this is the 
best preparation for the next. — Character is decisive of destiny. 

— Tryon Edwards. 
Nowhere would there be consolation if religion were not. — Jacobi. 

I have now disposed of all my property to my family. — There is 
one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is the Christian 
religion. — If they had that, and I had not given them one shilling, 
they would have been rich, and if they had not that, and I had given 
them all the world, they would be poor. — Patrick Henry. 



344 



BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



QUALITIES OF HEAD AND HEART. 

We insert here a topical analysis of Prof. H. D. Gould's lecture on 
"What Qualities of Head and Heart are Essential to Success." Teachers 
and preachers will find this synthetic view of the elemental relations of 
the attributes of character a scientific working basis for much valuable 
instruction. Almost any one accustomed to public speaking can easily 
develope this classification into an interesting and profitable address. 



OF HEAD 



AND 



< 

a 



HEART 



Tact and Talent, 
Energy and Perseverance, 
Discretion and Judgment, 
Sagacity and Shrewdness, 
Courtesy and Civility, 
Urbanity, Agreeableness, 
Caution, Watchfulness, 
Prudence, Discernment, 
Efficiency, Constancy, 
Nicety of Perception, 
Intellectual Ability, 

r Integrity — 

Probity, Veracity, 
Rectitude, Honesty 

Fidelity — 
Faithfulness, 
Trustworthiness, 
Sincerity, 

Sympathy — 

Prompted by Experience, \ gj 
M 
Courage and Fortitude— 

Patience and Forbearance, 

HOPE, 

Justice— 

Tempered with Mercy, 
and thence known as 

CHARITY, 



Accuracy, 
Neatness, 
Dispatch, 



Happiness 



and 



Contentment, 



THE NEW BIBLICAL CRITICISM. 345 



THE NEW BIBLICAL CRITICISM. 

By W. W. Davies, Ph. D., (Halla). Professor of Hebrew, 
Ohio Wesleyan University. 

Scarcely any greater harm could befall the Church of 
God in any age or clime, than to cut off freedom of speech 
and of thought, from those set apart to teach the people in 
Christian doctrines and truth. Sober and intelligent criti- 
cism should never be made difficult, much less impossible. 
Few things have ever impeded either mental or spiritual 
growth more than a blind adherance to tradition without in- 
quiry and reflection. Passive indifference, arising from moral 
inertia and intellectual stagnation, should always be depre^ 
cated; but an intelligent study of the Word of God, such as 
would enable one to give a reason for the hope that is within 
him, should be encouraged at all times and everywhere, by 
every lover of Jesus Christ. Wherever the possibility of tem- 
perate criticism has ceased, religious decay and moral relaxa- 
tion have resulted. 

On the other hand, reckless criticism, rash speculation 
and disregard for the most sacred traditions are to be de- 
plored no less than blind subscription to articles of faith or 
systems of creeds. In Biblical Critism, as in most all else, 
there are two extremes, and it is just as easy to err at one 
extreme as at the other. Therefore, he who keeps near the 
middle of the road, as far as possible from the precipices on 
either side, will be in a position to benefit men and glorify 
God more than the most brilliant extremist on either side. 145 

The past few years have been years of unrest and agita- 
tion in the entire Christian Church. This is especially true of 
more than one of the large evangelical bodies among the 
Protestants. It may be asserted without fear of contradiction 
that wherever agitation arising from questions involving the 



346 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

New Criticism has been most pronounced, the spiritual growth- 
has been correspondingly small. The real cause of such 
spiritual decline or numerical decrease will be explained vari- 
ously, depending largely upon individual sympathy. The 
time must come when the Church must look into these things. 
The superficial observer, — and this class is exceedingly 
large — will indifferently overlook the real causes of these 
disturbances, and like the average correspondent of the daily 
press, will, if at all, refer to them in a semi-humorous manner, 
as questions hardly worth the consideration of thoughtful 
men ; or he may sneeringly ask, like Pilate of old, " What 
is truth?" or, like Gallio, will regard the whole subject as 
" a question of words and names," a mere matter of Jewish 
or other obsolete laws. Unfortunately, there are too many 
inside our churches, who have no idea of the magnitude of 
the questions at issue. Many Christian ministers pay no at- 
tention to Biblical Criticism and the questions involved, 
virtually saying, " None of these things move me." And 
yet, a still smaller number, though almost entirely ignorant 
of Biblical Criticism, as taught by destructive critics, lose no 
opportunity to lampoon the " narrow, old-fashioned theologi- 
an," and to proclaim the benefits of untrammelled criticism. 
The evangelical churches should know several things 
concerning these latter-day utterances of the New School, 
whose disciples are variously known as " Critics," " Histori- 
cal Critics," " Higher Critics," "Destructive Critics," etc., 

One of the principal errors of the school is to brand all 
those who disagree with them as either unscholarly, willfully 
blind, or hopelessly ignorant. They loudly preach that all 
the scholarship of Christendom is on their side, and that no 
scholar can be found among what they contemptuously call 
the " traditionists." A professor in one of our American 
Theological schools said at a gathering some time ago, that it 
would be a difficult thing to find a competent Orientalist un- 
der forty-five in the camp of the Orthodox. If this were 
true, it would be a very sad truth ; for certainly, more than 
ninety per cent, of the ministers in the so-called evangelical 
churches of England and America, have not accepted the 



THE NEW BIBLICAL CRITICISM. 347 

teachings of the " Critics." All scholars have not abandoned 
the old way. Indeed, the great majority of evangelical 
Christians — many of them eminent as theologians, literary 
men, jurists and statesmen — are still true to the ancient 
landmarks; and their writings show just as much logic, 
scientific culture and ability, as do those of the new school of 
Biblical Critics. And why not? Why should the orthodox 
critic have the least desire to disparage or discard the estab- 
lished conclusions of science or literary criticism? Another 
truth should be emphasized: the self-styled Biblical Critic, 
whether in Germany, England, or America, is not so infinitely 
removed from the average intelligent minister of the gospel, 
or trained logician in any literary pursuit, that these cannot 
follow him into the niceties of historical criticism. 

The next mistake of the new critics is to regard their 
method as purely scientific, and to represent their dicta as 
being the result of rigid inductive reasoning, founded upon 
the solid rock of logic. Let him who doubts this statement 
refer to any Dictionary of the Bible. Let him, for example, 
read Dr. George Adam Smith's article on Isaiah, in Hastings ; 
or -select articles at random from the Encyclopedia Biblica by 
Cheyne. Even a cursory examination of these will convince 
the most sceptical that the most mature writings of the newer 
critics are not characterized by an unswering loyalty to scien- 
tific principles, and that many a very advanced critic possesses 
a moist vivid imagination, and that they are far from agree- 
ing among themselves. Take the Polychrome Bible, not yet 
completed, we believe, — who can possibly call such a work 
either critical or scientific? Even as liberal a scholar as 
A. B. Davidson, in speaking of this work, says that here 
" individual subjectivity operates uncontrolled." Let no one 
be deceived: the stamp of science cannot be honestly im- 
pressed upon everything written by this new school. 

Again, the new criticism not only overestimated the 
validity of its conclusions, but it underestimates the great 
harm done to the Church of God by insisting upon promul- 
gating theories which are nothing but unproved hypotheses. 



348 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

This is especially true of their views regarding the author- 
ship of various books of the Bible. It is not yet demonstrated 
that Moses did not write the Pentateuch. In short, the story 
that Moses could not have written the five books bearing his 
name, because writing of documents was not known as early 
as the time he is said to have lived, received a severe shock 
when the Tel-el-amarna tablets were discovered; and still a 
ruder shock when the Hammurabi code was brought to light 
some four years ago. This code, written according to all 
schools of critics, about 2250 B. C, or not far from eight 
hundred years before the time of Moses, has a very large 
number of laws, almost identical with that we find in the 
Mosaic legislation, as recorded in Exodus and Leviticus. 
And yet, how have the critics answered us that the age of 
Moses was not far enough advanced to produce such legisla- 
tion as is found in the Pentateuch? While there may be 
some interpolations in the Pentateuch, and some portions of 
it may show the hand of a late reviser, we are not willing to 
follow Wellhausan and Cheyne, and brand the whole book 
as uninspired, or even unhistorical, consisting mostly of 
myths and legends, the work of cunning priests and shrewd 
political prophets. One has well said, " The Scriptures, it is 
true, have a human side, but it has been left to these critics 
to charge upon not a few of its writers conscious trickery 
and imposition." Let the reader, once for all dismiss the silly 
idea that newer criticism concerns itself chiefly with literary 
criticism, with dates and authorship. These would be com- 
paratively harmless. We shall not charge all the newer crit- 
ics with a positive desire to deny the supernatural, propheti- 
cal and miraculous elements in the Bible, but is it not true 
that they all minimize the supernatural as much as possible? 
Do not the leaders boldly teach that the Old Testament is in 
no sense a revelation from God? but rather a record of the 
opinions of men, sadly groping in the dark after the truth, 
just like ourselves. Do they not deny the historical character 
of the ancient Hebrew patriarchs? Abraham, Moses, Isaac; 
Jacob and his twelve sons, had no real existence, but were 
mythical personages, typical impersonations of religious 



the: new biblical criticism. 349 

Israel. The prophecies and miracles, if we believe the critics 
are inventions of the post-Mosaic ages. Professor Cheyne, 
though a canon in the English Church, boldly declares that 
it is " no longer possible for the modern mind to believe in 
miracles." 

The best specimens of the teachings of this school of 
critics in the English language is found in the Encyclopedia 
Biblica. An editorial in the British Weekly referring to 
this work has the following to say : " The principle of Dr. 
Cheyne's criticism, so far as we can deduce it, is that all 
statements in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament, 
as we have them, are, to say the least, probably false." Yes, 
the supernatural element in the Bible must be totally rejected 
as utterly unworthy of the serious consideration of any critic. 
Dr. Cheyne and his school dispose of all the miracles and 
prophecies of the Old Testament. Now, whoever can do this 
will have no difficulty in denying the divine nature or deity 
of Jesus Christ. Indeed, the authenticity and genuineness 
of the gospels are boldly denied. The gospels, according to 
Schmiedel, a Zurich professor, are a bad mixture of fiction, 
allegory and metaphor, containing less than half a dozen 
passages about Jesus which are absolutely credible. (Mark 
X, 18; Matthew XXI, 31; Mark III, 21; XII, 32; Mat- 
thew XXVI, 46.) Should the reader examine these pass- 
ages, he will see that, read out of their proper connection, 
they seem to deny the deity of our Savior. I suppose that is 
why Schmiedel regards them as genuine. Take, again, the 
article on " Mary the Mother of Jesus." The principal aim 
of the writer is to dispose of the " virgin birth " of our Lord. 
Witness after witness is called to substantiate this view. He 
then calls our Savior himself, as well as Paul, as witnesses, 
and yet we cannot see any use of calling these two, for we 
are assured in the article on Paul, that this great apostle 
never wrote any of the articles bearing his name, or anything 
else, as far as the " critics " know. The Celsus and the 
Talmud bear testimony. These great authorities say that 
Jesus was the child of the adulterous intercourse of Mary 



350 BEST THOUGHTS OE BEST THINKERS. 

with a soldier, Stada or Pandera. The object of the above 
article is to show that Christ was a mere man. 

Let us now turn our attention to the Acts, and the Epis- 
tles. To begin with the Acts: Professor Van Manen, of 
Leyden, standing on the shoulders of Bruno Bauer (whose 
theories have been thoroughly exploded) who flourished in 
the first part of the second half of the last century, tells us 
that the book of the Acts " professes to be a sequel to the 
third gospel. * * * But we cannot regard the contents of 
the Acts as a true and creditable first-hand narrative of what 
had actually occured, nor yet as the ripe fruit of earnest his- 
torical research. * * * The book bears, in part, a legend- 
ary-historical, in part an edifying and apologetic character. ,, 
The Acts, we are told, was written between 130-150 A. D. 
in order to encourage some persecuted converts, and to show 
how favorable the Roman authorities were to the new 
religion. 

What of the Epistles? Let Professor Van Manen reply 
in his own words. He says : " With respect to the canonical 
Pauline Episles, the later criticism here under consideration 
has learned to recognize that they are none of them by Paul. 
* * * They are all, without distinction, pseudepigrapha 
(this, of course, not implying the least deprecation of their 
contents). * * * They contain simply historical data from 
the life and labors of the apostle * * * at least, for the 
most part borrowed from the Acts of Paul; which also un- 
derlie our canonical book of Acts." This learned Dutch 
professor, having, to his own satisfaction, proved that Paul 
did nojt write anything whatever, as far as the " critics " 
know, then proceeds to enlighten us, by saying that these so- 
styled Pauline epistles were first not sent to private parties, 
or churches : they were pretendedly written during the life- 
time of Paul, Timothy, Silvanus and others. Indeed, they 
were not letters at all, but treatises. They bear no resemb- 
lence whatever to real letters. Take; fotr instance, the first 
letter to the Corinthians: this was not written at one gush, 
or even at intervals, but it is rather an aggregation of frag- 
ments which had not originally the same destination. " 



THE NEW BIBUCAL CRITICISM. 351 

Romans, likewise, is of composite origin, patched up of older 
writings, epistles, and possibly various oral traditions. Gal- 
atians is " an adaptation of a letter previously read at a 
circle of the Marionites, although we are no longer in posi- 
tion to restore the older form." 

Thus we might go -on at great length, but our space 
forbids. Let us however, in conclusion, assure our readers 
that the promoters of this .newer criticism, in many cases, 
strike at the very foundations of the Christian faith. Were 
they content to stop with making .Moses, Abraham, Isaac, 
Jacob, Joshua, Saul, David, etc., lunar or solar heroes, clan 
names or tribal gods, and not real personages, we might over- 
look their unscientific proceedings, but when we are assured 
by them that Peter, James, Paul, and even Jesus Christ 
were more symbolic than real, it is time for us to call a halt, 
and request the ministers of the so-called orthodox churches 
to examine their positions, before they foist the newer criti- 
cism upon their busy congregations. Indeed, it is inconceiva- 
ble to us, how some clergymen who have solemnly taken upon 
themselves the vows of the church, and have subscribed to 
the creed of their denomination, can yet, in fairness to them- 
selves and the church they serve, deny a large part of what 
they are supposed to believe. In cases of this kind, it is no 
longer a case of orthodoxy, but rather of morality. 

Let no one think that new critics concern themselves 
chiefly about words and dates, style and textual criticism. It 
is not whether Genesis and several books of the Old Testa- 
ment are history or myth, whether or no Israel was in Egypt, 
or whether the tabernacle with its extensive ritual during the 
wilderness journey had any existence save in the brain of 
some fanatic or pious fraud who wished to give authority to 
the temple service ; but whether the doctrine of the Incarna- 
tion, the miraculous birth, the resurrection and the ascension 
of Jesus Christ can be accepted as facts worthy of a sane, 
intelligent man's faith. 

The kind of criticism indulged in by Schmiedel, Van 
Manen, Cheyne and those of like views " has no end save 
a complete destruction of the Bible and its religion, — in 



352 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

other words, it moves onward, and still onward, to' nihilism." 
What Dr. Dale said years ago is true to-day. His words are : 
"It is not a theory of ecclesiastical polity which is in danger, 
it is not a theological system, it is not a creed, it is not the 
Old Testament or the New, but the claim of Christ himself 
to be the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. The real 
question is, Is Christendom to believe in Christ any longer, 
or no? " 129 



LACONICS. 

BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT FAITH. 

Faith affirms many things respecting which the senses are silent, but 
nothing which they deny. It is superior to their testimony, but never 
opposed to it. — Pascal. 

Faith and works are as necessary to our spiritual life as Christians 
as soul and body are to our life as men ; for faith is the soul of religion 
and works, the body. — Colt on. 

All the scholastic scaffolding falls, as a ruined edifice, before one 
single word — faith. — Napoleon. 

Some wish they did, but no man disbelieves. — Young. 

In actual life, every great enterprise begins with and takes its* first 
forward step in faith. — Schlegel. 

Faith must have an adequate evidence, else it is mere superstition. 

—A. A. Hodge. 

Faith marches at the head of the army of progress. It is found 
beside the most refined life, the freeest government, the profoundest 
philosophy, the noblest poetry, the purest humanity. — T. T. Munger. 

Faith makes the discords of the present the harmonies of the future. 

— Collyer. 

Never yet did there exist a full faith in the divine word which did 
not expand the intellect while it purified the heart ; which did not 
multiply the aims and objects of the understanding, while it fixed and 
simplified those of the designs and passions. — Coleridge. 

Faith is not reason's labor, but repose. — Young. 

Man is not made to question, but adore. — Young. 

Faith evermore looks upward and describes objects remote: but 
reason can discover things only near — sees nothing that's above her. 

— Quarles. 
The errors of faith are better than the best thoughts of unbelief. 

— Thomas Russell. 



laconics. 353 

Science has sometimes been said to be opposed to faith, and in- 
consistent with it. But all science, in fact, rests on a basis of faith, 
for it assumes the permanence and uniformity of natural laws — a 
thing which can never be demonstrated. — Tryon Edwards. 

Faith in order, which is the basis of science, cannot reasonably be 
separated from faith in an ordainer, which is the basis of religion. 

— Asa Gray. 

Naturally, men are prone to spin themselves a web of opinions out 
of their own brain, and to have a religion that may be called their own. 
They are far readier to make themselves a faith, than to receive that 
which God hath formed to their hands ; are far readier to receive 
a doctrine that tends to their carnal commodity, or honor, or delight, than 
one that tends to self-denial. — Baxter. 

While reason is puzzling herself about the mystery, faith is turning 
it into her daily bread and feeding on it thankfully in her heart of 
hearts. — F. D. Huntington. 

It is faith among men that holds the moral elements of society 
together, as it is faith in God that binds the world to his throne. 

—W. M. Bvarts. 

I prefer a firm religious faith to every other blessing. — For it 
makes life a discipline of goodness ; creates new hopes, when those 
of the world vanish ; throws over the decay of life the most gorgeous 
of all lights ; and awakens life, even in death. — Sir Humphrey Davy. 

Ignorance as to unrevealed mysteries is the mother of a saving 
faith ; and understanding in revealed truths is the mother of a sacred 
knowledge. Understand not therefore that thou mayest believe, but 
believe that thou mayest understand. Understanding is the wages of 
a lively faith, and faith is the reward of an humble ignorance. 

— Quarles. 

Faith is like love: it cannot be forced. As trying to force love 
begets hatred, so trying to compel religious belief leads to unbelief. 

— Schopenhauer. 

Strike from mankind the principle of faith, and men would have 
no more history than a flock of sheep. — Bulwer. 

All the strength and force of man comes from his faith in things 
unseen. He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong 
convictions precede great actions. — /. F. Clarke. 

" Faith is the pencil of the soul that pictures heavenly things. 

— T. Burbridge. 
There is one sure criterion of judgment as to religious faith in 
doctrinal matters: can you reduce it to practice? If not, have none of 
it. — Hosea Ballou. 

Faith in an all-seeing and personal God, elevates the soul, purifies 
the emotions, sustains human dignity, and lends poetry, nobility and 
holiness to the commonest state, condition and manner of life. 

— Juan Valera. 



354 B EST THOUGHTS OE BEST THINKERS. 

Faith is not only a means of obeying, but a principle act of obedi- 
ence ; not only an altar on which to sacrifice, but a sacrifice itself, 
and, perhaps, of all, the greatest. It is a submission of our under- 
standings; an oblation of our idolized reason to God, which he re- 
quires so indispensably, that our whole will and affections, though 
seemingly a larger sacrifice, will not, without it, be received at his 
hands. — Young. 

Much knowledge of divine things is lost to us through want of 
faith. — Heraclitus. 

There is a limit where the intellect fails and breaks down, and this 
limit is where the questions concerning God, and free will and im- 
mortality arise. — Kant. 

We cannot live on probabilities. The faith in which we can live 
bravely and die in peace must be a certainty, so far as it professes to 
be a faith at all, or it is nothing. — Froude. 

The saddest thing that can befall a soul is when it loses faith in 
God and woman. — Alexander Smith. 

Epochs of faith are epochs of fruitfulness ; but epochs of unbelief, 
however glittering, are barren of all permanent good. — Goethe.. 

Faith makes all evil good to us, and all good better; unbelief 
makes all good evil, and all evil worse. Faith laughs at the shaking 
of the spear; unbelief trembles at the shaking of a leaf: unbelief 
starves the soul ; faith finds food in famine, and a table in the wilder- 
ness. In the greatest danger, faith says, " I have a great God." When 
outward strength is broken, faith rests on the promises. In the midst 
of sorrow, faith draws the sting out of every .. trouble, and takes out 
the bitterness from every affliction. — Quarles. 



Best Thoughts About Doubt. 

The doubter's dissatisfaction with his doubt is as great and wide- 
spread as the doubt itself. — /. Dewitt. 

A bitter and perplexed "What shall I do?" is worse to man than 
worse necessity. — Coleridge. 

Doubt, indulged and cherished, is in danger of becoming denial ; 
but if honest and bent on thorough investigation, it may soon lead to 
full establishment in the truth. — Tryon Edwards. 

Our doubts are traitors and; make us lose the good we oft might 
win by fearing to attempt. — Shakespeare. 

Who never doubted, never half believed. Where doubt is, there 
truth is — it is her shadow. — Bailey. 

In the hands of unbelief, half truths are made to do the work of 
whole falsehoods. The sowing of doubts is the sowing of dragon's 
teeth, which ere long will sprout up into armed and hostile men. 

— B. B. Burr. 



laconics. 355 

When you doubt, abstain. — Zoroaster. 

Beware of doubt — faith is the subtle chain that binds us to the 
infinite. — E. O. Smith. 

Give me the benefit of your convictions, if you have any, but keep 
your doubts to yourself, for I have enough of my own. — Goethe. 

The doubts of an honest man contain more truth than the profession 
of faith of people under a worldly yoke. — G. Saville. 

Doubt is hell in the human soul. — Gasparin. 

Misgive that you may not mistake. — Whately. 

Doubt is brother devil to despair. — O'Reily. 



BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT HUMILITY. 

Humility, that low sweet root, 

From which all heavenly virtues shoot. — Moore. 

Humility is the solid foundation of all the virtues. — Confucius. 

Humility is the root, mother, nurse, foundation and bond of all 
virtue. — Chrysostom. 

Humility, like darkness, reveals the heavenly lights. — Thoreau. 

Humbleness is always grace, always dignity. — /. R. Lowell. 

Humility is the first lesson we learn from reflection, and self- 
distrust the first proof we give of having obtained a knowledge of our- 
selves. — Zimmerman. 

After crosses and losses, man grows humbler and wiser. — Franklin. 

The street is full of humiliations to the proud. — Emerson. 

I believe the first test of a truly great man is humility. — Ruskin. 

It is in vain to gather virtues without humility; for the spirit of 
God delights to dwell in the hearts of the humble. — Erasmus. 

To be humble to superiors, is duty ; to equals, is courtesy ; to in- 
feriors, is nobleness ; to all, safety ; it being a virtue that, for all 
its lowliness, commandeth those it stoops to. — Sir T. Moore. 

True humility is not an abject, groveling, self-despising spirit; it 
is but a right estimate of ourselves as God sees us. — Tryon Edwards. 

Humanity cannot be degraded by humiliation. It is its very char- 
acter to submit to such things. There is a consanguinity between 
benevolence and humility. They are virtues of the same stock. — Burke. 

Sense shines with a double lustre when set in humility. — Penn. 

Humility is to make a right estimate of one's self. — Spurgeon. 

It is no great thing to be humble when you are brought low ; but 
to be humble when you are praised is a great and rare attainment. 

— St. Bernard. 

The sufficiency of my merit is to know that my merit is not suffi- 
cient. — Augustine. 



356 BEST THOUGHTS OE BEST THINKERS. 

It is easy to look down on others ; to look down on ourselves is the 
difficulty. — Peterborough. 

The fullest and best ears of corn hang lowest toward the ground. 

— Bp. Reynolds. 

The richest pearl in the Christian's crown of graces is humility. 

— Good. 

Humility is not a weak and timid quality; it must be carefully 
distinguished from a grovelling spirit. There is such a thing as an 
honest pride and self-respect. Though we may be servants of all, we 
should be servile to none. — E. H. Chapin. 

Humility is the truest abstinence in the world. It is abstinence 
from self-love and! self-conceit, from vaunting our own praise and ex- 
ploits, from ambition and avarice, the strongest propensities of our 
nature, and consequently is the noblest self-denial. — Delany. 

Truly, this world can get on without us, if we would but think so. 

— Longfellow. 

Humility is to have a right estimate of one's self — not to think 
less of himself than he ought. The higher a man is in grace, the lower 
will he be in his own esteem. — Spurgeon. 

Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil's reach as humility. 

— Jonathan Edwards. 

True dignity abides with him only, who, in the silent hour of inward 
thought, can still suspect, and still revere himself, in lowliness of 
heart. — Wordsworth. 

The casting down of spirits in true humility is but like throwing 
a ball to the ground, which makes it rebound the higher toward heaven. 

— /. Mason. 

It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that 
makes men as 15 ^ angels. 184 — Augustine. 

Epaminondas, finding himself lifted up in the day of his public 
triumph, the next day went drooping and hanging down his head; and 
being asked what was the reason of his so great dejection, made answer: 
" Yesterday I felt myself transported with vainglory, therefore I chas- 
tise myself for it to-day. — Plutarch. 

Trees that, like the poplar, lift upward all their boughs, give no 
shade and no shelter, whatever their height. Trees the most lovingly 
shelter and shade us when, like the willow, the higher soar their sum- 
mits, the lowlier droop their boughs. — Bulwer. [Sounds like a simile 
but is not, all the words being used literally.] See 152. 

Heaven's gates are not so highly arched as princes' palaces; they 
that enter there must go upon their knees. — 7. Webster. 

The saint that wears heaven's brightest crown, 

In deepest adoration bends ; 
The weight of glory bows him down 

The most when most his soul ascends. 
Nearest the throne itself must be 
The foot-stool of humility. — /. Montgomery. 






THE HIGHER CRITICISM. 357 



THE NATURE AND METHOD OF THE HIGHER 

CRITICISM. 

By Prof. Herbert L. Wiixett, Director of Bible Study, 
Chicago University. 

The Holy Scriptures were written at various times and 
in divers portions through a period covering many centuries. 
They appear in three different languages which, though ad- 
mirably suited to be the media of these messages, were not 
created for that purpose, but had each its own history 
antecedent to such employment, and its close relations with 
a national life in the light of which the biblical utterances 
are alone capable of adequate comprehension. In most in- 
stances the records apparently preserve their original linguis- 
tic form, while in a few there have been thought to be indica- 
tions of translation from the earlier tongue. Moreover, the 
frequent marks of the ordinary literary methods found in 
all records, the use of antecedent documents or traditions, the 
numerous instances in which the text as it has survived to 
us fails to yield a satisfactory meaning, disclose the fact that 
the scriptures share the human characteristics of all literature, 
and have passed through the usual vicissitudes attending the 
transmission of the records of the past. 

The discovery of these facts, once unrecognized, but now 
patent to every student of these documents, imposes the duty 
of careful investigation by the use of all methods by which, 
first, the precise language of the original writers may be 
discovered, and, second, the exact conceptions which the 
writer intended the words to convey may be reached. Hence 
arises the need of laborious comparison of texts and versions 
in the hope of arriving at an approximately correct text 
and then upon the basis of this critically verified text, to 
prosecute the further inquiries as to dates, authorship, in- 



358 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

tegrity, literary form and trustworthiness. These two de- 
partments of study, comprising textual criticism, usually 
called the Lower Criticism, and literary and historical criti- 
cism, generally denominated the Higher Criticism, together 
comprise the various elements of inquiry included under the 
more comprehensive term Biblical Criticism 

In this classification of the two departments of the work 
as lower and higher respectively, there is, of course, no dis- 
position to assert the superiority of the one to the other. 
Textual criticism is not less important than its literary and 
histroical colleague, but the appropriateness of the term grows 
out of the necessary priority of the Lower Criticism as a 
foundation upon which the Higher Criticism may be built. 

Such investigation is at once seen to be necessary and 
desirable. It is the test of the certainty of knowledge; the 
method of the verification. It is as active a force in the 
domains of general literature, art, science, and history, as in 
that of the scriptures; and because of the universally recog- 
nized legitimacy of the method in these disciplines, it is both 
unavoidable and highly desirable that it should also be applied 
to the Bible. If in the other departments of study it is dis- 
covered that ancient documents have suffered through im- 
perfect transmission and inadequate or uncritical theories of 
their authorship, date, and interpretation, it is at least sup- 
posable that the application of the same careful methods 
which have given these other writings a new and trans- 
cendent value may be profitably used in the illumination of 
Holy Scripture. 

There is a sense in which all critical work is destructive. 
If properly performed it is certain to reveal the inaccuracies 
and blemishes incident to all products in whose making and 
preservation men have had a part. It is the kind of destruc- 
tion witnessed in the cleansing of a palimpsest, in which some 
part of a rare and precious manuscript has been over-written 
and obscured. It shares the destructive characteristics of 
those artistic processes by which the crude retouching of a 
less skillful hand is removed from the canvas of a master in 
order that what remains may at least be the sole work of the 



THE HIGHER CRITICISM. 359 

original painter. Thus the work of the critic finds ample 
justification in the results achieved and indicates its right to 
the free exercise of its prerogative in the realm of biblical 
literature, while at the same time it merits the careful con- 
sideration of every student who desires to make full inquiry 
into the character of the Bible. Happily, in this process the 
materials in which criticism dealt may be preserved for future 
comparison. While the scribe must destroy the overwriting in 
order to come at the more precious script beneath, or the 
artist must remove what he considers the work of a later 
hand in order to reveal the masterpiece, the biblical critic need 
but point out what appear to him to be scribal errors or 
traditional misconceptions, leaving the materials for fresh 
comparisons, and submitting his results to verification or dis- 
proof, and he may be full sure that every step of his work 
will be inspected by searching eyes, and every hypothesis 
subjected to the severest tests. By such processes truth is 
certain to be attained sooner or later. The process merely 
signifies the removal of those things that are shaken, as of 
things that men have made, that those things which are not 
shaken may remain. There need be no disquietude as to 
the results, though there may be a natural disinclination to 
accept a view at variance with former opinions. This is like- 
ly to be the most serious obstacle to the progress of a com- 
petent method of Bible study, and yet whatever measure of 
truth may inhere in a given method may be trusted to assert 
its supremacy at least, even in circles the most reluctant to 
receive it. Beyond this nothing can be asked. No fairer 
test could be desired than the appeal to truth, which is al- 
ways capable of self-vindication to honest men. At this point 
the destructive element falls out of view, and the constructive 
factor appears to complete the process of building upon the 
true foundation of belief. 

Considering, therefore, the value of the Higher Criti- 
cism, it may be noted that at the very point where the lower 
criticism stops in its examination of the text in the light of 
all the available apparatus of manuscripts and versions, there 
is need of another and higher order of scrutiny to determine 



360 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

whether or not certain portions of the text which receive am- 
ple support from the oldest documents, and yet which appar- 
ently interrupt the thought, are not to be adjudged interpola- 
tions, or displacements, upon grounds as valid as those which 
determine most of the textual emendations. In some cases 
the internal sense and feeling of a passage constitute more 
adequate criteria for its determination as genuine or spurious, 
properly or improperly located, than any external data of 
manuscripts. This judgment lies clearly within the domain 
of the Higher Criticism, and yet so near the border that the 
textual critics have not hesitated to employ it upon occasion, 
which proves that the line dividing the two types of criticism 
is not always distinct, and one field tends at times to a slight 
overlapping of the other. Then come the more characteristic 
questions of the Higher Criticism as to integrity, authenticity, 
literary form and reliability. These are the questions which 
reflection suggests to the reader of any document. 

1 . Integrity. Is the work by a single author, as Tenny- 
son's " Princess," or is it a collection of writings by different 
authors, as the volume, "Book by book?" Is it in its 
original .condition, as the Pilgrims Progress, or has it suf- 
fered editing and interpolation by later writers, as the West- 
minster Confession of Faith? If the latter, may the different 
parts be discriminated, the original portion be determined, 
and the stages of addition traced, as in the various editions 
of the Book of Common Prayer ; or is this process practically 
impossible, as in the Apostle's Creed, and the Arabian 
Nights? These are questions which the study of all litera- 
ture suggests: why may they not legitimately arise in the 
study of portions of the Bible like the Proverbs, the Psalms, 
the book of Isaiah or of Genesis? and the answers cannot 
be given solely on the ground of a priori or traditional con- 
siderations, but only after careful investigation of the literary 
phenomena which these books disclose.. There is nothing 
impossible or improbable in the appearance of any or all of 
these elements in the writings named, on the other hand they 
may none of them be found. The question is one of fact, 



THE HIGHER CRITICISM. 361 

discoverable in acordance with the regular canons of literary 
investigation, 

2. Authenticity. Does the writing bear, not as an 
editorial title, but in the text itself, the name of the author, as 
the Prophecy of Amos, or the Epistles of Paul ? Is the name 
genuine, coming from the writer himself, as in the case of 
the Epistle of James, or is it the conjecture of some other 
editor, as in the case of the book of Hebrews? Is the work 
a forgery, as the Epistles of Phalaris, or have the contents, the 
hero and heroine, rather than the author, suggested the name, 
as in the books of Job, Esther, and Ruth? Is the writing 
without a name attached, as the Kings, and Chronicles, or 
is it pseudonymous, as the letters of Jumio, and the Apoca- 
lypse of Baruch ? There is no apparent reason .why the bibblical 
writers should decline to make use of any literary method 
which has been employed in writings of ethical and religious 
character, and for the highest purposes. What, therefore, are 
the facts as to authorship of the books of the Bible? How 
came the name of 'Moses to be attached to the first five books 
of the Old Testament as author? Is there any ground for 
this theory ? How is the book of Daniel related to the prophet 
whose name it bears? Upon what grounds is the book of 
Canticles ascribed to Solomon, or the fourth Gospel to the 
apostle John? These inquiries are not only legitimate, they 
are essential. No student is prepared to endorse any view 
of these facts which he has not examined with the apparatus 
at his disposal. It is not only unscholarly but immoral to 
give the weight of one's influence to views, either old or new, 
which have not been subjected to such tests as may be com- 
manded for the purpose. 

3. Literary Form. The character of a given book or 
portion of a book as to style of composition is also important, 
not only as a means of classification, but as an aid to exegesis. 
Does the author write in prose or poetry? If the former, is 
it history, treatise, oratory or epistle? If the latter, is it epic, 
lyric or dramatic, and what is its structure? The change 
from one form of writing may be the indication of a change 
of theme, or of author, or of a quotation from another work. 



362 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Is the style easy and flowing, forceful and brilliant, rapid 
and energetic, stiff and pedantic, or laborious and dull? In 
all literature these elements are among the criteria of author- 
ship, and it is natural that they should have due consideration 
in the study of the Bible. The application of such tests re- 
quires a high degree of skill, and a wide and intimate 
acquaintance with literary work. A decision in this field is 
necessarily in large degree a matter of subjective literary 
instinct, and attended with no little danger of error, especi- 
ally in matters of detail, because of elements of personal bias 
which are likely to enter into the problem. Nevertheless, the 
reasonableness of the attempt, and the comparative harmony 
of the results attained demonstrate the value of the method. 
This is especially true in general literature, in music, and in 
art. To deny the legitimacy of this test is to disavow the 
possibility of such a science as criticism. Nor can any num- 
ber of individual errors of judgment in the application of the 
method invalidate the method itself. These only emphasize 
the need of caution and the danger of excessive confidence in 
subjective judgments. But the process supplies its own safe- 
guards and correctives, for every result is examined with 
minute and exhaustive search for weaknesses, by other stud- 
ents of the subject, and only that which can abide the test of 
severe scrutiny may hope to survive. These tests are applied 
to the Bible as to all other literature, and the results obtained 
constitute an essential aid in interpretation. The discovery 
that Hebrew poetry has certain marks which clearly distin- 
guish it from prose made possible the separation of the two 
forms of writing in the Old Testament, and disclose the im- 
aginative and figurative nature of many passages, upon which 
a less critical exegesis had imposed a literalness of interpreta- 
tion which entirely obscured their artistic form and purpose. 
It is not merely a question of proper classification which 
confronts the student. Were it so, it might be dismissed with 
small attention, for few save mere pigeon-holers and label- 
writers would care to spend time at such tasks. But when it 
is discovered that the literary form determines in no small 
degree the meaning and purpose of a given writing, and con- 



THE HIGHER CRITICISM. 363 

stitutes the essential criterion by which particular passages 
are to be judged and interpreted, the importance of the in- 
quiry becomes apparent. Are the early chapters of Genesis 
poetry or prose? No one need be told that the answer to 
this question will affect profoundly one's point of view. Are 
works of the imagination confined to such portions of the 
Scriptures as the fables of Jotham and Jehoash, and the 
parables of Nathan and Jesus, or are more extended narra- 
tives like the books of Ruth, Esther, and Jonah to be similarly 
classified ? No one will claim that the answer is unimportant, 
nor that it does not profoundly affect the interpretation of 
these portions of the Bible. At the same time, the question of 
legitimacy is the same in either case. If fable and parable 
be approved as vehicles for ethical and religious teaching, 
there is no a priori consideration which would prevent the 
composition of more extended works of the imagination for 
similar purposes. The question is one of fact not to be pre- 
judged; and it can only be decided by careful study of such 
portions of the Bible in the light which the recognized canons 
of literary and historical criticism supply. 126 

4. Credibility. The problem which next confronts the 
student relates to the reliability of a writing, when subjected 
to all tests afforded by a knowledge of the age from which it 
purports to have come. Is it in accord with the facts as they 
3 re learned from other sources. What are the characteristics of 
the author as to good judgment, fairness, accuracy? Is he writ- 
ing with the simple purpose of telling the facts, or has he in 
view constantly some one element of the narrative on which 
particular stress is laid? If so, is this emphasis of a character 
to give a bias to his work, and how far will this bias affect 
the reliability of the record? These and similar tests are ap- 
plied to all other literature; is it possible or desirable that 
the Scriptures shall be withheld from such examination? 
Rather it is of the utmost importance that they should be 
judged by the same laws which apply elsewhere. 

Interesting examples of mistakes corrected are found in 
the clear demonstrantion of the sub-apostolic character of the 
so-called apostle's creed, by Dr. Schaff, and the equally con- 



364 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

vincing disproof of the authenticity of the epistles of Phalaris, 
by Bentley, who showed that they were the forgeries of a 
sophist living subsequent to the age of Phalaris. On the 
constructive side equally valuable and convincing work has 
been done in fields of both classical and biblical literature. 
The vindication of the most important writings of Cicero, 
Plato, Xenophon, Dante, and a long list of the world's most 
important makers of literature, is no more notable and valu- 
able than the similar recognition of the reliability of the most 
important sections of the Bible. That which was once the 
assertion of tradition is now known to be buttressed by 
scientific demonstration. 

It must be remembered that these principles may be used 
by men of all shades of thought and all attitudes toward the 
Bible. They may be reverent and spiritual with a deep in- 
terest in promoting the understanding of these writings be- 
cause of their religious value, or they may be purely 
indifferent to the love and purpose of Holy Scripture, and 
only actuated by the scientific impulse which sees in this 
book a subject for the exercise of a faculty which with equal 
zeal might expend itself upon similar work in any other 
literature; or they may be, from conviction, habit of mind 
or association, deeply hostile to the word of God, and desir- 
ous of its overthrow. These various attitudes will affect the 
results of their work within certain limits. But in the last 
analysis the great body of results reached will be harmonious, 
and capable of articulation in a consistent and convincing 
whole, provided all have applied in an honest and fearless 
manner the scientific method in their investigations. Truth 
is bound to be self-evidencing in the end. 471 The believer 
has no right to demand that all who handle the Bible shall 
be first submissive to its teachings or convinced by its state- 
ments. What he does demand, however, and what he has 
a right to demand, is that it shall be handled honestly, and 
given a fair field for self-attestation. So studied, by men of 
whatever school of belief; friendly, impartial, or hostile, it 
has no reason to decline the issue of criticism. But accept- 
ing or declining, the criticism is inevitable, and it is the mark 



THE HIGHER CRITICISM. 365 

oi the true believer that he waits with confidence and satis- 
faction the most searching tests of its claims. 

Against the results of the Higher Criticism numerous 
objections are raised. 

1. The Bible is a divine book and above criticism. To 
apply to it the tests used in the case of other literatures would 
be to dishonor it. But how is one to know a book is divine, 
unless its claims to this character be tested? The Koran 
makes far more ambitious claims for itself than does the 
Bible. Are these therefore to exempt it from an examina- 
tion which reveals its ethnic, imperfect and unspiritual char- 
acter as truly as the same process applied to the Bible shows 
it to be beyond all classification with other human literature? 
The doctrine of " hands off " is the cry of little faith. One 
who is confident that the Bible is the word of God rejoices 
to see it tested, as the armorer eagerly devises new and harder 
tests to apply to an exquisitely wrought steel blade. 

2. It is often said that the founders of the Higher 
Criticism were skeptics and infidels. The names of Voltaire, 
Hume, Paine, Astruc, and Porphyry are often heard in the 
discussion. It would be quite easy to show that holy and 
devout men have had far more to do with the work than 
have unbelievers. Far more vital to this work at the very 
opening of its history were the labors of Bishop Lowth and 
Father Simon, of the Roman Catholic church, Herder the 
reverent poet, and Clerious the protestant scholar; and 
through the entire history of the science men highest in the 
church and most active in christian work have been its advo- 
cates and workmen, as the mere remembrance of such names 
as Neander, Schleiermacher, Tolluck, Luthardt, Weiss, Pres- 
seuse, Westcott, Hart, Lightfoot, Delitzsch, Bruce, Robert- 
son Smith, Dean Farrar, Canon Driver, and George Adam 
Smith will abundantly prove. But even were it conceded that 
the Higher Critics are universally infidels (and the equation 
seems fixed in the minds of some), what is the value of the 
contention? The matters with which the Higher Criticism 
deals are matters of fact. If these facts are capable of demon- 
stration as they prove themselves to be, and they are left 



366 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

for unbelievers to discover, it is only another verification of 
the often asserted statement that the church is compelled to 
learn from her enemies. It must be recognized that the 
assertion of heretical or sceptical tendencies on the part of 
all critics has great weight with a certain type of mind. 
There are those to whom the statement that Astruc raised cer- 
tain questions regarding the Pentateuch, or that the Mac- 
cabean date of Daniel was suggested by Porphyry is an end 
of all argument. No theory, it is asserted, can have any 
truth when announced from such sources. Most people will, 
however, still prefer to ask not, who advocates this view? 
but is it in accordance with the facts ? We do not disregard 
the warnings of the most disreputable tramp, when he stops 
a train because of a broken bridge ahead, nor will we fail to 
heed all hints of unsubstantial theories regarding the Bible, 
while we are pressing forward to the fair goal of its com- 
plete comprehension. 

3. It is often said that the purpose of the Higher 
Criticism is to remove the miraculous elements from the Holy 
Scripture, and reduce all to the dead level of rationalism, 
with no place for a divine revelation. The criticism is first 
as it relates to some workers in this field. But, if as claimed, 
the method itself was devised to eliminate from credible his- 
tory the miraculous elements of biblical writings, it has sig- 
nally failed. Such is neither its logic nor its effect. There 
are to be found no more confident believers in the wonderful 
works of prophets in the Old Testament, or the disclosure of 
our Lord's divine character through his works of healing in 
the New, than among those who' have found the Higher 
Criticism a solvent of biblical difficulties. No more untenable 
ground could be taken than that indicated by the objectors. 

These and other objections which are often made are 
seen to rest upon misapprehension of the real character and 
effects of the Higher Criticism, and lose their force when 
carefully considered. The results of criticism, so far as they 
have justified themselves, are a part of the church's perma- 
nent possession as aids in the interpretation of Holy Script- 



THE HIGHER CRITICISM. 367 

ure. The measure of agreement already reached in the 
essentials of the theme is proof of this fact. If these con- 
clusions were fundamentally unsound, we should be equally 
sure that they would pass away, and should equally rejoice. 
The proof which truth demands is the test of use and ex- 
perience, and in the last analysis this test must approve itself 
to the individual soul. There is a certain value, perhaps, in 
accumulating authorities upon a given subject. It is possi- 
ble to point out the geographical supremacy which a truth 
has gained, or the list of distinguished men who adhere to 
it, indicating its present acceptance, and future permanency. 
All these things might be asserted with reference to the 
Higher Criticism, and yet they have but little significance 
save as general indices of current thought. One must work 
through the problem for himself. Most foolish would he be 
who, at the behest of any teacher or group of teachers, ab- 
dicated his own right of private judgment by the rash adop- 
tion of any theories, new or old. It is only the most careful 
investigation of the facts in the light of both critical and 
conservative views, with the prayerful attitude of mind that 
seeks the guidance of the divine spirit in the great quest, that 
can bring over assured convictions. To such convictions 
every man must assert his right. If he be true to himself 
he must be consistent with those laws of thought by which 
his whole intellectual life is shaped. Humble he ought to be 
as well in the face of all which he cannot know, and asking 
evermore for new light, above all, he needs the power and 
grace of God to preserve him loyal to the spirit of the Master, 
amid conflicts of opinion. There is a heresy of belief, an 
infidelity of intellect, against which no warnings can be too 
sharp; but even worse is the heresy of spirit, the infidelity 
of temper, which may overshadow and darken any orthodoxy 
of opinion. 

In the future as in the past there will be tides of criti- 
cism in flow and in ebb. The pendulum will swing to ex- 
tremes either radical or conservative, but each swing lessens 
the arc, and the result which will at last enter into the basis 
of Christian belief will be neither the old traditional theories 



368 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

of extreme conservatism, nor the fantastic guesses and gro- 
tesque conceits of the ultra radical criticism, but the safe and 
conservative middle ground. Already this is beginning to be 
realized. The Higher Criticism will be pursued in the future 
only in a diminishing degree as the details of the process, 
left over in earlier investigations, wait for consideration. 
Already Biblical Theology is building on the foundations 
supplied by it, displacing the older dogma resting on isolated 
proof-texts, and inadequate for further service. When Bi- 
blical Theology has solved its problem, we may expect to 
see its results in turn used as a truer and more lasting 
dogmatic, the crowning work of Christian thought, the queen 
of the sciences. 

Meantime the results of criticism are quickening the 
church in a variety of ways. They are giving us a new and 
powerful apologetic, which is rendering futile and childish 
the arguments of infidelity, especially against the Old Testa- 
ment. They are entering the field of Bible teaching and 
giving us a new era in Sunday School work. They are 
creating an interest in the Scriptures in circles 'to which they 
were before a stranger. They are giving, and are destined 
still more to give, us a new evangelism which shall lose none 
of the fervor of the old, but shall supply elements of instruc- 
tion never sufficiently recognized. Criticism is doing these 
things to-day, and when it has done its work, it will pass 
away — pass away as does the water poured upon the roots 
of a plant to enter into its life; pass away as does the cloud 
when it has discharged its shower; pass away as does the 
workman who has removed the accumulated debris from a 
monument of the past. But the Church remains, the Christ 
abides, -and the Holy Scriptures, the inspired word of God, 
wrought by human workers, but impelled by the Eternal 
Spirit, shall never pass away. For all flesh is grass, and all 
the glory of man is as the flower of the field. The grass 
withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand 
forever. 150 151 



LACONICS. 369 



LACONICS. 

BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT BELIEF. 

He that will believe only what he can fully comprehend, must have 
a very long head or a very short creed.— Colton. 

Remember that what you believe will depend very much upon what 
you are. — Noah Porter. 

There are many great truths which we do not deny, and which 
nevertheless we do not fully believe. — /. W. W. Alexander. 

A man may be a heretic in truth ; for if he believes things only 
on the authority of others without other reason, then, though his be- 
lief be true, yet the very truth he holds becomes heresy.— Milton. 

There are three means of believing, by inspiration, by reason, and 
by custom. — Christianity, which is the only rational system, admits 
none for its sons who do not believe according to inspiration. — Pascal. 

Nothing is so easy as to deceive one's self; for what we wish, that 
we readily believe. — Demosthenes. 

We are slow to believe that which if believed would hurt our 
feelings. — Ovid. 

In belief lies the secret of all valuable exertion. — Bulwer. 

Newton, Pascal, Bossuet, Racine, Fenelon, that is to say some of 
the most enlightened men on earth, in the most philosophical of all 
ages, have been believers in Jesus Christ ; and the great Conde, when 
dying, repeated these noble words, " Yes, I shall see God as he is, face 
to face ! " — Vauvenargues. 

The practical effect of a belief is the real test of its soundness. 

— Froude. 

Some believe all that parents, tutors, and kindred believe. — They 
take their principles by inheritance, and defend them as they would 
their estates, because they are born heirs to them. — Watts. 

It is a singular fact that many men of action incline to the theory 
of fatalism, while the greater part of men of thought believe in a divine 
providence. — Balzac. 



tfO BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

He who expects men to be always as good as their beliefs, indulges 
a groundless hope ; and he who expects men to be always as bad as their 
beliefs, vexes himself with a needless fear. — /. S. Kieffer. 

I am not afraid of those tender and scrupulous consciences who 
are ever cautious of professing and believing too much; if they are 
sincerely wrong, I forgive their errors and respect their integrity. — 
The men I am afraid of are those who believe everything, subscribe to 
everything, and vote for everything. — Shipley. 

A sceptical young man one day, conversing with the celebrated 
Dr. Parr, observed, that he would believe nothing which he could not 
understand. "Then, young man, your creed! will be the shortest of any 
man's I know." — 

Orthodoxy is my doxy ; heterodoxy is the other man's doxy. 

— Bishop Warburton. 



UNIFICATION OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. 371 



THE UNIFICATION OF THE CHRISTIAN 
CHURCHES. 
By Amory H. Bradford, D.D. 

More than at any time in recent years and perhaps more 
than ever before, the question of the reunion, or unification 
of Christendom is before the minds and on the hearts of 
Christian people. It is easy to understand why this subject 
has assumed such importance. Two, at least, of our religious 
bodies have made distinct overtures looking, toward this end. 
The Bishops of the American Episcopal Church and of the 
Anglican Church have united in putting forth the four prop- 
ositions which are known as the Chicago-Lambeth Articles; 
and the Church of the Disciples of Christ has issued its 
declaration as to what is essential to Christian Unity. The 
latter may be condensed as follows : The Union of Christen- 
dom on the basis of " The primitive Creed," namely, " Thou 
art Christ, the Son of the living God;" "The Primitive 
Sacraments ; " Baptism and the Lord's Supper ; and " The 
Primitive Life, or the life that was in Christ." The Chicago- 
Lambeth Articles are as follows : 

I. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 
ments as containing all things necessary to salvation, and as 
being the rule and ultimate standard of faith. 

II. The Apostles' Creed, as the Baptismal Symbol, and 
the Nicene Creed, as the sufficient standard of the Christian 
faith. 

III. The two Sacraments ordained by Christ himself; 
Baptism and the Supper of the Lord, ministered with unfail- 
ing use oi Christ's words of institution, and of the elements 
ordained by Him. 



372 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

IV. The Historic Episcopate, Locally adapted in the 
methods of its administration to the varying needs of the 
nations and the peoples called of God into the unity of His 
Church. 

It would be too much to presume that the publication 
of these suggestions has created the interest in this subject 
which now exists, for the subject itself inspired the articles. 
It is idle to try to conceal the fact that there is a widespread 
and deep-seated dissatisfaction with the present constitution 
of the Christian Church and the mode of its administration. 
Those who assume the championship of the Church as an 
institution try to laugh this feeling down, or worse still, to 
put it down by use of hard names. Some men who are not 
Christians have denounced the Church, and it is straightway 
presumed that all who criticize are going into their company ; 
but there is a vast difference between the denunciation of ene- 
mies and the criticism of friends, — the one proceeds from 
hostility, and the other is the truest indication of loyalty. 
It is now several years since the Chicago-Lambeth Articles 
were given to the world, and they have steadily attracted in- 
creased attention. I do not at this time propose to discuss 
these articles. I desire, however, to call attention to two or 
three facts in connection with this subject which seem to be 
of great importance. First; The fact that our churches are 
so largely rivals rather than friends and allies is a shame 
and disgrace. It misrepresents our Christian life, and gives 
in many communities at least, a totally false impression of 
what our Master teaches and is. Work which could be well 
done if all were united is neglected because of division. 
Second : The missionary boards of all our churches are issu- 
ing piteous appeals in behalf of their treasuries, when if there 
were co-operation instead of competition there would be 
money enough in the treasuries and men enough for all the 
pulpits. There is no need of more churches in the United 
States. Statistics have shown that there are churches enough 
for all the people. And yet, because we are denominational- 
ists rather than Christians, we are wasting money, keeping 
our treasuries depleted, issuing appeals for contributions 



UNIFICATION OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. 2>73 

which really are not much needed. Third, the denominations 
have ceased to have any vital differences. If we select three 
or four, and ask for what they distinctly stand, we find that 
they are not distinguished by anything essential. For in- 
stance the Congregationalists represent the independence of 
the local Church, and the right of each man to form his own 
opinions, led by the Spirit of God. The Baptists especially 
emphasize the importance of " Believers' Baptism," the Pres- 
byterians the Calvinistic doctrines, and the Episcopalians the 
Historic Episcopate. Now, as a matter of fact, not one of 
these articles has any vital relation to the work of the salva- 
tion of men, or is even understood by most converts. They 
do not need to be mentioned when we are leading men to 
Christ. Furthermore we all acknowledge by our example 
that they are of secondary importance. Churches often co- 
operate; ministers preach in each other's pulpits, and all 
work together enough to show that we do not hold as vital 
the things which divide us. The majority of our people 
practically say that they do not care very much for the fences 
which separate the sects. Local churches are made up of 
members of almost all denominations. Most city and subur- 
ban pastors would testify that they receive members from 
various communions into their fellowship, and that often 
those who are the most efficient have come from other denom- 
inations than the ones in which they are working. These 
are singular and serious facts. They ought not to be evaded 
and their significance cannot be exaggerated. Many Christian 
people are in advance of their leaders. They are pushing 
on toward unity faster than those whom they are supposed 
to follow. Moreover, there is abroad an unwonted interest 
in the affairs of the Kingdom of God, and men are finding 
that they can work together for the Kingdom when they are 
not able to agree upon any sect. Consequently there is grow- 
ing up, so to speak, a church outside the church, which is 
doing the work of Christ and presenting the very essence of 
Christianity to those who are longing for pure and undefiled 
religion. 

This tendency is seen in various charities, in the Young 



3/4 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Men's Christian Association, in the so-called " labor- 
churches " in " Bible Readings," in many of the lodges, and 
in different ways not commonly discovered. 

When we come to a discussion of the remedy for our 
divided Christendom the difficulty begins. The most earnest 
Christians recognize the evils, but few are willing to make 
the sacrifices necessary in order that those evils may be 
remedied; indeed, perhaps as yet we hardly know what 
sacrifices are best for us to make. For myself I am not 
satisfied with the Chicago-Lambeth Articles. I do not see 
how they are likely to produce anything more than a formal 
unity. The real obstacle in the way of Unity is our imper- 
fect appreciation of the teachings of Christ. We import our 
own personalities into the circle which belongs to Him alone. 
W f hen He reigns supreme, and His principle of self-sacrifice 
for the good of the Kingdom prevails, there will be as much 
effort on the part of denominations to give up non-essentials 
for the general welfare as there must be always among in- 
dividual Christians. When individuals are unloving, for- 
mal declarations of harmony are to little purpose. The 
unification of Christendom is not to be promoted by the ad- 
vocacy of any special form of policy. That is beginning 
from the outside and working inward, whereas the process 
should be that which was always emphasized by our Master, 
— making the heart right in order that the life may be. 
I am aware that these statements are common-places, and yet 
the more I study this question the more fully I am convinced 
that expedients looking toward union are all likely to fail 
unless they begin with the recognition that denominational 
selfishness is as wicked as individual selfishness ; that nothing 
is made good by being done in the name of the Lord, when 
the spirit tends to defeat that which He is trying to do. 

When His work is held to be supreme everything else 
will be of comparatively little importance, and we shall not 
ask concerning Baptism, or the Episcopate, or Independency, 
or special speculative doctrines, but only, how may His work 
be advanced? Just now those writers who are lifting "the 
Kingdom " into greater prominence are in the line most 



UNIFICATION OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. 375' 

likely to help in the realization of the end which we so much 
covet. Work for denominations is not always work for the 
Kingdom. That which promotes sectarianism inevitably 
tends to defeat the Kingdom. The Master spoke of the 
Church but twice; with Him the Kingdom was everything. 
We have too long given the first place to that which He made 
of comparatively little importance. To be sure the Apostles 
more frequently referred to the Church, but never in a way 
which indicates that the Kingdom is to be interpreted by the 
Church. Christ's use of the words indicates that the Church 
is always to be interpreted by the Kingdom. The Kingdom 
is the end and the Church only an instrument for its advance- 
ment, and that instrument is best which best does the work 
for which it is designed. 

Organic unity may be neither possible nor desirable; 
spiritual unity is imperative. Organic unity would necessi- 
tate agreement in outward symbols; spiritual unity can be 
realized in co-operation for the service of humanity. Why 
should uniformity of thought, expression, and worship be 
sought? Individuality means diversity, and diversity neces- 
sitates beauty and power. Uniformity can be realized only 
in the solemn desolation of death; but co-operation is the 
condition for useful work for the Kingdom of God. Why 
should there be competing sects? The Christian world con- 
tains no sadder picture than that of small towns where money 
and strength are wasted, not in order that souls may be saved, 
and the human condition bettered, but that sects may win pro- 
selytes. All denominations are about equally sinners in this 
matter. A new church is needed, and those already existing 
hold no conference, make no mutual plans, never ask, Who 
can do the work best? but the one which happens to have 
the money in hand rushes in and pre-empts the field. Mis- 
sions are needed to the heathen, and in too many instances 
there is offered to those who know not how to distinguish, 
Presbyterian, Congregational, Methodist and Episcopalian 
forms of Christianity; and the poor heathen make the best 
bargain by going to the highest bidder. Think of rival religi- 
ous societies when poverty and crime are rising like a flood! 



3/6 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Think of a Zulu trying to understand the immense signific- 
ance of the difference between immersion and sprinkling! 
Think of a Sioux Indian seeking to fathom the mystery of 
the Historic Episcopate ! Think of street children growing 
to be criminals, while Christian ministers are actually wrang- 
ling over the question as to whether Moses wrote the books 
that contain no mention of his authorship! Sects are the 
products of intellectual differences. They will exist as long 
as men differ, which will probably be forever. 

But is there no basis for co-operation among Christians? 
There is; and it will be realized when there is unity of the 
Spirit. Let the sects keep apart as much as they choose in 
the making of their theologies, but let them come together 
in the service of humanity. Is a new Church needed? Why 
should any other question be asked then. What will suit this 
particular field best? And why should not all help as if it were 
their own? Is a mission required? Or a home for those 
who have no homes ? Why should not all consider the ques- 
tion and help according to their ability? Nothing less than 
this can meet the problem of the modern city. Not only is the 
need too great for money to be wasted but the ignorance 
of the people is such that they should not be confused with 
unessential speculations. A denominational mission in Africa 
or in Whitechapel is poor generalship. More and more 
christians are realizing that the first thing to be done for 
millions is to get them into conditions in which intelligent 
convictions are possible. The time is coming when instead 
of rivalry in reaching the people there will be conference and 
co-operation. If there can be a federation of States, why 
not of churches? The Time-Spirit, which in this case is the 
Spirit of God, is at work among the denominations; and 
the day is not far distant when there will be a federation of 
the States of the world for the government of the world, 
and of all Christian denominations for hastening the day 
in which sectarianism shall dispaapear and the Kingdom of 
God prevail. 142 



laconics. 377 



LACONICS. 

BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT UNITY. 

Men's hearts ought not to be set against one another, but set with 
one another, and all against evil only. — Carlyle. 

By uniting we stand; by dividing we fall.i^o — John Dickinson. 

What science calls the unity and uniformity of nature, truth calls 
the fidelity of God. — Martineau. 

The union of Christians to Christ, their common head, and by means 
of the influence they derive from him, one to another, may be illus- 
trated 1 5 3 by the loadstone. It not only attracts the particles of iron to 
itself, by the magnetic virtue, but by this virtue it unites them one to 
another. — Cecil. 

Union does everything when it is perfect. It satisfies desires, simpli- 
fies needs, foresees the wishes, and becomes a constant fortune. — 
Senacour. 

The great unity which true science seeks is found only by beginning 
with our knowledge of God, and coming down from him along the 
stream of causation to every fact and event that affects us. — Howard 
Crosby. 

The multitude which does not reduce itself to unity, is confusion; 
the unity which does not depend upon the multitude, is tyranny. — Pascal. 

The number two hath by the heathen been accounted accurst, 
because it was the first departure from unity. — /. Trapp. 



BEST THOUGHTS ACROSTICALLY ARRANGED. 

TO bear injuries is more than taking a city. — Simmons. 

ERR you must, but never be ashamed to own it. — Pope. 

IS it not the greatest of faults to be conscious of none ?— Carlyle. 

HUMAN bodies are the holiest temples. — Novalis. 

TO love is to place our happiness in that of another. — Leibnitz. 

FORGIVE many things in others; nothing in yourself. — Ausonius. 

DIVINE harmonies result from life's discords.— Gould. 



37% BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



ALIv CHURCHES DOING THE SAME WORK. 
By Rev. Charles Bayard Mitcheix, D. D. 

" I rejoice in these different Christian denominations- 
They are natural and proper. No set form of church govern- 
ment is arbitrarily given in the New Testament. I have no 
quarrel with the Roman Catholic, who' wants his Pope, nor 
with the Quaker, who seems satisfied with nothing. Many 
of the denominations have their rise in the peculiar social con- 
stitution of those who compose them. We are all soldiers in the 
same great army, having subordinate organizations after our 
own peculiar tastes. 

" Many of these churches are due to the fact that we 
cannot all see the same truth from the same angle of vision. 
Dogmas and creeds are the fruitage of the human vision of 
the divine truth. With so many eyes to see, it is no wonder 
we tell different stories of what we behold. But we all see 
Christ, and that vision saves Protestant and*; Catholic alike. 
We are saved by faith in him, not by what we may be able to 
formulate about him. 

" There are unseemly rivalries and needless differences, 
between many Christian churches, but when we wisely study 
the situation we will discover more similarities than differ- 
ences, and that in the vital essentials we are all one. There 
are excellent features in all the churches. Each one may 
possess some excellency which may be lacking in all the 
others. Surely no one has all the truth, and in each one 
there is more or less of error diluted. Each has been more 
or less affected by the others through the years, and we are 
all bound together like the different parts of the same body. 



ALL CHURCHES DOING THE SAME WORK. 379 

" We Methodists owe much to the Church of England, 
our good mother. Wesley and all our first ministers came 
from that church. We are indebted to her, not to the Pro- 
testant Episcopal Church, for she is our younger sister, born 
of the same mother some months later. For our liturgy we 
owe much to the Lutheran Church, for it was that church 
which led John Wesley to know that he was already con- 
verted. We owe much to the Moravians, for they led John 
Wesley into a deeper spiritual life. We are indebted to the 
Presbyterians, for they defended us in times when we 
were persecuted, and afforded us places to worship. We 
are indebted to the Congregationalists for our apprecia- 
tion of an educated ministry, their controversies with 
us showing us the need. We are indebted to the Roman 
Catholic Church, for they have given us thirty of the hymns 
in our hymnal. We are indebted to the Baptists, for they 
have been in closest sympathy with us in all our evangelistic 
labors. 

" I like the Roman Catholic Church because she believes 
in the religious training of her children, and at great sacrifice 
of time and money does it. I like it because it stands for the 
purity of the home life and the sanctity of the marriage vows. 
Thank God for that church's strong and clear protest against 
the cheap divorce mills which disgrace our American civili- 
zation ! I honor that church for what it is doing in the build- 
ing and maintenance of hospitals and asylums. I honor it for 
its defense of the Bible, and I especially thank God for the 
stand that church takes in this land against anarchy on the 
one hand and a godless socialism on the other. When I 
think of the seething masses of foreigners of a certain type 
in these cities, which the Protestants have thus far at 
least, been unable to touch, I thank God for a Christian 
church which does touch them, and exerts its potent in- 
fluence over them in such ways as to keep them from 
the wild vagaries of the godless Socialist, and also from 
the destructive tendencies of the wild-eyed Anarchist. I go 
to sleep every night with a firmer feeling of security because 



380 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

we have in this city a branch of the Christian church known 
as the Roman Catholic Church. 

" I like the Protestant Episcopa.1 Church because in its 
theology it is like my own, and what forms of liturgy we have 
we got from the source it did. I like the emphasis that church 
puts upon worship and an orderly service. I thank God for 
its great philanthropies carried on in all our great cities. 

" I like the Baptists because they are so evangelistic and 
dead in earnest. The Baptist always stands for something. 
He generally knows what he belongs to when he has been 
taken into church. He has joined something different from 
an old-fashioned New England town meeting. I like him 
for his very consistency, and that is what makes me patient 
with him when he keeps me away from his communion table. 
He does not want to appear so narrow, but his very consist- 
ency, his adherence to what he believes to be the truth, com- 
pels him to appear so unbrotherly, and I honor him for it, 
while I do not believe in the premises which drive him to 
such hard conclusions. 

" I like the Disciples, because they are so energetic and 
earnest. I like their loyalty to our dear old Bible, and, while 
I do not accept all their reasons for it, I do accept with glad- 
ness the fact that they do magnify the word of God. I like 
them for their evangelism and their devotion to the Sunday 
school. Those two facts explain their marvelous growth in 
recent years. I have much to hope of a people who are doing 
these three things — making great sacrifices for their mission 
fields, building up great Sunday schools in city and country, 
and getting the larger vision of truth from such congresses 
as we had a sample of lately in this city. 

" I like the Presbyterians because they breed such a 
noble type of Christians. Say what you please of their hard 
doctrine (it is getting softer), it has developed the sturdiest 
characters known in the Christian church. I remember Scot- 
land with its hard doctrine, if you please, but with its noble 



ALL CHURCHES DOING THE SAME WORK. 381 

army of Presbyterian ministers and laymen who have honored 
the name they have borne. It cannot be so bad a creed that 
engenders such deeds! It cannot be so hard a doctrine that 
has produced such tender, faithful, and loving hearts! That 
noble church has always stood in this land especially, for 
two things, namely, the development of Christian character 
and higher education. In other words, their task has been 
to educate the head and sanctify the heart. God bless that 
church, and if its revised creed should result in producing 
a less virile and Christ-like manhood, we Methodists will quit 
boasting that we compelled them to change their preaching. 

" Let us thank God for all these various branches of 
the Holy Catholic Church, which really means the com- 
munion of saints. Let us no longer face each other, as ancient 
foemen did, each regarding the other as a foe to be van- 
quished, but rather let us stand back to back, Protestant and 
Catholic alike, facing our common enemy and go forth to bring 
quickly this lost world to the feet of our common Lord and 
Master, Jesus Christ." 



3§2 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



LACONICS. 

BEST THOUGHTS FROM FAMILIAR TEXTS. 

• 

There is death in the pot. — 2 Kings, IV, 40. 

Lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in death they were not 
divided. — 2 Samuel, I, 23. (Spoken of Saul and Jonathan.) 

A man after his own heart. — 1 Samuel, XIII, 12. 

The apple of his eye. — Deut., XIX, 22. 

A still small voice. — 1 Kings, XIX, 12. 

Escaped with the skin of my teeth. — Job XIX, 20. 

Spreading himself like a green bay tree. — Psalm XXXVII, 35. 

Hanged our harps upon the willow. — Psalm CXXXVII, 2. 

Riches certainly make themselves wings. — Proverbs XXII, 5. 

Heap coals of fire upon his head-i™ — Proverbs XXV, 22. 

No new thing under the sun. — Ecclesiastes I, 9. 

Of making many books there is no end. — Ecclesiastes, XII, 12. 

Peace, peace, when there is no peace. — Jeremiah VIII, 11. (Made 
famous by Patrick Henry.) 

My name is legion. — Mark V, 9. 

To kick against the pricks. — Acts IX, 5. 

There were giants in the earth in those days. — Gen. VI, 4. 

Darkness which may be felt. — Ex. X, 21. 

I am going the way of all the earth. — Josh. XXIII, 14. 

He kept him as the apple of the eye. — Deut. XXXII, 10. 

Thou art the man. — 2 Samuel XII, 7. 

He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. — Job V, 13. 

There ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. — 
1 Kings XVIII, 24. 

How are the mighty fallen. — 2 Samuel I, 25. 

A proverb and a by-word. — 1 Kings, IX, 7. 

I would not live alway. — Job VII, 16. 

Great is truth and mighty above all things. — 1 Esdras IV, 41. 

He will laugh thee to scorn. — Ecclesiasticus XIII, 7. 

These were honored in their generations, and were the glory of their 
times. — Ecclesiasticus XLIV, 7. 

Left a name behind them. — Ecclesiasticus XLIV, 8. 



LACONICS. t 383 

Forsake not an old friend, for the new is not comparable unto 
him. — Ecclesiasticus IX, 10. 

Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they be withered. — 
Wisdom of Solomon II, 8. 

Righteousness exalteth a nation. — Proverbs XIV, 34. 

He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it. — Proverbs XI, 15. 

His enemies shall lick the dust. — Psalm LXII, 9. 

Vain is the help of man.— Psalm LX, 11; CVIII, 12. 

Miserable comforters are ye all. — Job XVI, 2. 

In the place where the tree falleth there it shall be. — Ecclc- 
siastes II, 3. 

A bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings 
shall tell the matter. — Bcclesiastes X, 20. 

Terrible as an army with banners. — The Song of Solomon VI, 4, 10. 

Grind the faces of the poor. — Isaiah III, 15. 

The nations are as a drop of a bucket. — Isaiah XL, 15. 

Prisoners of hope. — Zechariah IX, 12. 

We all do fade as a leaf. — Isaiah LXIV, 6. 

As if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel. — Bzekiel X, 10. 

Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. 
— Joel II, 28. 

The thing is true according to the law of the Medes and Persians, 
which altereth not. — Daniel VI, 12. 

I have multiplied visions and used similitudes. — Hosea XII, 10. 

Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run 
that readeth it. — Habbakuk II, 2. 

He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith.— Bccles. XIII, 1. 

I said in my haste, all men are liars. — Psalm CXVI, 11. 

I am fearfully and wonderfully made. — Psalm CXXXIX, 14. 

Thy children like olive plants round about thy table.— Psalm 
CXXVIII, 3. 

We hanged our harps upon the willows. — Psalm CXXXVII, 2. 

The stone which the builders refused has become the head of the 
corner.— Psalm CXVI II, 22. 

Put not your trust in princes. — Psalm CXLVI, 14. 

Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell to- 
gether in unity.— Psalm CXXXIII, 1. 

Wisdom is better than rubies. — Proverbs VIII, n. 
Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.— 
Proverbs IX, 17. 

As an ox goeth to the slaughter.— Prov. VII, 22 ; Jer. XL, 19. 
My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.— Psalm XL V , 1. 
From the strife of tongues. — Psalm XXXI, 20. 



384 BEST THOUGHTS OE BEST THINKERS. 

I may tell all my bones. — Psalm XXII, 17. 

Every man at his best is altogether vanity. — Psalm XXXIX, 5. 

Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. — Psalm XXIII, 4. 

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. — Psalm XXIII, I. 

Blessed is he that considereth the poor. — Psalm XLI, 1. 

Little lower than the angels.— Psalm VIII, 5. 

I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. — Job XXIX, 13. 

Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? — 
Job XXXVIII, 2. 

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. — Ps. LHI, 1 ; 
XIV, 1. 

Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. — 
Job XIV, 1. 

Oh ... . that mine adversary had written a book!— Job XXXI, 35. 



BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT CREED. 

The weakest part of a man's creed is that which he holds for 
himself alone; the strongest is that which he holds in common with all 
Christendom. — McVickar. 

A good creed is a gate to the city that hath foundations; a mis- 
leading creed may be a road to destruction, or if both misleading and 
alluring it may become what Shakespeare calls a primrose path to the 
eternal bonfire. — Joseph Cook. 

If you have a Bible creed, it is well ; but is it filled out and inspired 
with Christian love. — /. F. Brodie. 

In politics, as in religion, we have less charity for those who believe 
the half of our creed, than for those who deny the whole of it. — Colton. 



BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT CREDULITY. 

Charles the Second, hearing Vossius, a celebrated free-thinker, 
repeating some incredible stories about the Chinese, said, "This is a very 
strange man. He believes everything but the Bible !" 

Credulity is belief on slight evidence, with no evidence, or against 
evidence. In this sense it is the infidel, not the believer, who is cred- 
ulous. "The simple," says Solomon, "believeth every word." — Tryon 
Edzvards. 

Generous souls are still most subject to credulity. — Davenant. 

Your noblest natures are most credulous. — Chapman. 

The only disadvantage of an honest heart is credulity. — Sir P. Sidney. 



LACONICS. 385 

Credulity is perhaps a weakness, almost inseparable from eminently 
truthful characters. — Tuckerman. 

Credulity is the common failing of inexperienced virtue ; and he who 
is spontaneously suspicious may justly be charged with radical corrup- 
tion. — Johnson. 

You believe easily that which you hope for earnestly. — Terence. 

I cannot spare the luxury of believing that all things beautiful are 
what they seem. — Halleck. 

The general goodness which is nourished in noble hearts, makes 
everyone think that strength of virtue to be in another whereof they find 
assured foundation in themselves. — Sir P. Sidney. 

The remedy for the present threatened decay of faith is not a more 
stalwart creed or a more unflinching acceptance of it, but a profoundly 
spiritual life. — Lyman Abbott. 

We believe at once in evil, we only believe in good upon reflection. 
Is this not sad? — Madame Deluzy. 

The most positive men are the most credulous, since they most 
believe themselves, and advise most with their falsest flatterer and worst 
enemy — their own self love. — Pope. 

It is a curious paradox that precisely in proportion to our own 
intellectual weakness, will be our credulity as to the mysterious powers 
assumed by others. — Colton. 

O credulity, thou hast as many ears as fame has tongues, open to 
every sound of truth, as falsehood. — Harvard. 

Some men are bigoted in politics, who are infidels in religion. 
Pidiculous credulity! — Junius. 

To take for granted as truth all that is alleged against the fame of 
others, is a species of credulity that men would blush at on any other 
subject. — Jane Porter. 

Beyond all credulity is the credulousness of atheists, who believe 
that chance could build the world, when it cannot build a house.— -Clarke. 



386 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



CREEDS AND REASONS. 

Religious Leaders Answer Sharp Questions as to Why 
They BeuEve as They Do. 

BAPTIST. 

By Dr.L.A.Cranddl: "Briefly stated, the conditions for 
membership in the Baptist church are, belief and baptism ; the 
acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal savior, and 
the public declaration of such through the ordinance of 
baptism. As we understand the teachings of the New Testa- 
ment, this is no more and no less than our Lord required of 
his disciples when he was here upon , earth. The belief re- 
quired is not simply an intelligent conviction that Jesus was 
a Messiah, but such as involves personal love and obedience 
to God. Finding belief and baptism intimately and con^ 
stantly associated in the New Testament record, we hold both 
to be essential to obedient discipleship, and hence require both 
as conditions to church membership. We do not desire to 
receive into church relations either baptized nonbelievers or 
nonbaptized believers. Our views regarding the scriptural 
mode of baptism are too well known to require re-stating here. 
In order to harmonious church life it is desired that the mem- 
bers be in substantial agreement concerning questions of 
doctrine. A confession of faith has therefore been adopted 
as expressive of the general doctrinal belief of the church. 
Subscription to this confession, however, is not made a condi- 
tion of church membership. We are satisfied that divergent 
views concerning questions of minor importance are not 
necessarily detrimental to the interests of the church. On 
the other hand, it is not at all clear that uniformity secured 
by means of an enforced credal statement is conducive to 
the development of spiritual power." 



CREEDS AND REASONS. 3&7 

CONGREGATIONALISM 

By Rev. H. M. Tenny : "It will be rather difficult for me 
to tell why I am a Congregationalist without going into de- 
tail; there is so much ground to cover. However, I may say 
it is from a principle of polity rather than of doctrine, for 
our doctrine does not differ much from the Presbyterians. 
The authority is in the hands of the people of the church. 
It is absolutely democratic, as far as the local church is con- 
cerned, while a close fellowship exists with the united church. 
The Congregational church is not independent entirely, but 
the local church is allowed to govern itself independent of 
the converts and conferences. We recognize no lead but 
Christ. That principle is Biblical, we think, and governed 
the church in the beginning. At the same time we do not 
disfellowship other denominations. Our principle of polity 
has an influence on the people to educate them in self-govern- 
ment. The United States government got its idea prac- 
tically from the Congregational churches. There is an in- 
dividual responsibility within the church and an intellectual 
vigor which shows itself in the history of the Congregational 
church. The great colleges of the country are very largely 
the outgrowth of the Congregational church — that is, the 
idea came from the Congregational people. The influence 
of the church on the educational interests of the country has 
been great. I do not claim that nobody else has done any- 
thing of the kind, but the Congregationalists have led the 
way. Under our government there is less temptation to 
personal jealousy between the ministers and the churches. 
Every minister stands on his own merits and has no ecclesias- 
tical body to look to. On that account there is very little 
jealousy in the ministry. And then, in consequence of the 
freedom of speech in our church, there is more life to the 
work. And what is true of this church is true of our mis- 
sionary work. The people have a more intelligent knowledge 
of the need of this world. The amount given per capita for 
missionary work is greater than in any other church." 



388 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

DISCIPLE. 

By Rev. Harris R. Cooley : " It is not possible to give fully 
my reasons for being a member and minister of the Disciple 
church in a few words. That which christians hold in com- 
mon is to me far above all that is distinctive. I am not a 
member of the Disciple 'church because I believe that in any 
exclusive sense it is the only way to heaven. Our religious 
movement is an attempt to get nearer in teaching and life 
to Jesus and the apostles. We have no written creed to be 
subscribed, but simply ask for faith in the divine Christ, be- 
lieving that those who sincerely come to Him and learn will 
will not go far from the truth or from a right life. This 
does not compel the holding of the words of old dogmas in 
new and accomodated meanings. It ensures freedom for 
growth and enlargement. Much is left to the individual heart 
and conscience. To the communion service, all christians are 
invited. Each is to examine his own heart and life and to 
his own master he is to stand or fall. The ideal of the church 
is a body bound together, not by external ties, but because 
each member is sincerely trying to follow and obey the shep- 
herd of us all." 






EPISCOPALIAN. 



By Rev. Y. P. Morgan : " The reasons for being a church- 
man have been placed before the public by the Rev. Dr. Bates 
in a manner so forcible and logical that the best statement 
I can make is to endorse his. I am an Episcopalian, so 
called, because the polity of that church is unmistakably the 
polity of primitive Christianity. It is the polity that antedates 
both papalism and Protestantism, and contains within itself 
a potency that is adapted to all ages. In a word, the Epis- 
copal church is historic from the days of Christ, and I can 
find a history of no such legitimate claim for any other 
religious body. If I were not a churchman I would not be 



CREEDS AND REASONS. 389 

a member of any denomination. This conclusion I have 
reached after much consideration, and it appears to me to 
be the only logical conclusion from the facts of history viewed 
from the standpoint of faith in the divine character of Jesus 
Christ. I was not always a churchman, but have been led 
into my present belief from the considerations just men- 
tioned. My conviction as to the true polity laid down and 
practiced by the apostles does not, however, prevent my re- 
spect and regard for the personal holiness of those who 
interpret history on different lines." 



GERMAN LUTHERAN. 



By Dr. Charles. M. Zorn : The chief reason why I am a 
Lutheran is because I firmly believe that the Lutheran church 
in her creed does not deviate from the word of God in a 
single word. There are many branches of the Lutheran 
church. I belonged to a branch of the Lutheran church in 
Germany, but I left it, and when I came here, I joined that 
branch of the church known as the Synod of Missouri, Ohio 
and other states. Knowing by experience that this branch 
follows the true word of God strictly and verbally, I preferred 
it to all others and joined it. Another reason why I am a 
member of the Lutheran church is because she does not go 
any further in her teachings than is defined in the book of 
God. The church has her liturgy, form of service and cere- 
monies, which congregations may observe or not as they 
choose, all of which is conformity with God's book. The star 
that leads us in the Lutheran church is justification by faith 
alone, and being led, not by our own reason, but by the word 
of God alone. We follow that outline in every respect. We 
think that in our position lies the one possibility of a union of 
all the churches. Strictly clinging to the written word of 
God concerning doctrine, and by being liberal in all external 
matters such as church government, ceremonies, service, etc., 
which are not ordered or taught by the word of God." 



390 



BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



METHODIST. 

By Rev. Homer J. Smith : "lama Methodist because 
Methodism had its origin in the necessity of a spiritual re- 
vival in the christian world, and because it has laid special 
stress in its preaching- on the necessity of a clear spiritual 
conversion and the necessity of a holy life. It has not only 
taught a higher standard of christian life as the privilege 
and duty of its members, but its influence in bringing all 
other evangelical churches to the same faith and practice has 
been greater than is generally known, and than most of them 
are willing to acknowledge. To its influence may be justly 
attributed a large share in the maintenance of the high stan- 
dard of doctrine in the churches of to-day. I am a Methodist 
again because it has done so much for all grades of society. 
It has been recognized by the people as being not for some 
one class, but for all. In its communion are found many of 
the richest and many of the poorest, and each is made equally 
welcome. I am a Methodist because it has the best form of 
church government. It is the one nearest that of the aposto- 
lic church. While it is episcopal in form, and in fact, it is 
modeled more nearly after the New Testament than any 
other. I am a Methodist because of its itinerant ministry, 
which has proven to be the best to meet the wants of our 
country. While we move often, it is by regular rule, and 
our pastoral terms are longer now than the average in other 
communions. With us there is no need for any trouble be- 
tween pastor and people. If either party is not satisfied, a 
change is made under the law and no harm is done. None 
of our pastors are idle, and none of our churches are without 
pastors. In a word, I prefer the Methodist Episcopal church 
because I believe it to be the best in the world for the pur- 
pose for which the church was established." 



CREEDS AND REASONS. 39 1 

PRESBYTERIAN. 

By Rev. Dr. C. S. Pomeroy> " I deem the order of the 
Presbyterian church to be more conformable to early and 
scriptural precedent than the order of any other christian 
body. That which distinguishes us is, first, the doctrine of a 
plurality of congregations, joined organically in subordina- 
tion to one common ecclesiastical rule; and second, an as^ 
cending series of four courts from lowest to highest, based 
on that rule, and compacting- the whole church in complete 
unity. This is best suited to maintain the personal rights 
of all members, the unity, peace and purity of the church. 
The people are the basis of the whole structure. They dele- 
gate legislative and executive authority, elect their ministers, 
ruling* elders and deacons. The Presbyterian church has an 
unmatched record of fidelity to truth. Those churches which 
were faithful witnesses amid anti-christian apostacy, like the 
Waldensian, the Albigensian, and other martyr churches, were 
Presbyterian. 

The sacraments are administered agreeably to God's 
word. Adults are baptised on confession of their faith in 
Christ; birthright members are baptized on their parent's 
faith. We have no altar, because the sacrament is not a 
sacrifice, but an ordinance commemorating Christ's sacrifice. 
The Presbyterian church has been a generous friend of mis- 
sionary effort, of education, a learned ministry and popular 
elevation everywhere. No church is more liberal in temper 
or more staunch in principle." 



SWEDENBORGIAN. 



Rev. P. B. Cabell : "lama member of the Church of 
The New Jerusalem on account of the doctrines. The funda- 
mental doctrine of the New Church, as we often call it, is the 
doctrine concerning the Lord, which is that God is one in 
essence and person, and that the Lord and Savior Jesus 
Christ is that God. We believe that the Father is in him, 



39 2 BE§T THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

and the Holy Spirit proceeds from him. We believe that the 
trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost is a trinity not of 
persons but of attributes. This is the corner stone of the 
New Jerusalem, that Christ is the proper object of christian 
worship. 

" Our second doctrine is concerning the sacred script- 
ures. It teaches that the Bible is the very word of God, holy 
and divine in letter and spirit. There is contained within 
the sense of the letter a spiritual sense deducible therefrom 
by the law of correspondence between natural and spiritual 
things. There is beneath the surface meaning of the scriptures 
a divine meaning which is the fountain of wisdom. The 
word was dictated by the Lord to the prophets and evangel- 
ists and will remain fixed and true, not one jot or tittle of 
which shall pass till all be fulfilled. We believe that a man 
must shun evils as sins against God, and live a life according 
to the ten commandments. 

" Another important principle is that immediately after 
death man rises from the grave of his natural body, which he 
never resumes, in a spiritual body; that he at first finds him- 
self in the world of spirits, a place or state intermediate be- 
tween heaven and hell, and there he undergoes his final pre- 
paration for the one or the other. Man's spiritual state, how- 
ever, is fixed forever at death and is determined by the 
character of his life in this world; that whether he had been 
christian or pagan, Mohammedan or heathen, if while in this 
world he had feared the God whom he worshipped and 
worked righteousness according to the light that was in him, 
he readily receives instruction in heavenly truth, and is ad- 
mitted to the abodes of the blessed. While we believe that 
the Lord Jesus Christ was the Saviour of men, and that with- 
out his coming as God manifest in the flesh, no soul could 
have been saved, yet we do not believe in the doctrine of 
vicarious atonement or in predestination of any soul to perdi- 
tion, or in the resurrection of the material body. We believe 
that the last judgment has already taken place in the spirit- 
ual world and that now is the time of the second coming of 
the Lord foretold in the book of Revelation, and that it con- 



CREEDS AND REASONS. 393 

sists of a revelation of the true meaning of the sacred scrip- 
tures, wherein dwells the Lord, and whose inmost life is the 
Lord himself. According to the statement in the gospel of 
John, In the beginning was the word and the word was God." 



WHAT INGERSOLL BELIEVED. 

The Ingersoll legend will now begin. It is curious how, 
the moment a man dies, and only then, the myth of him is 
born. Nevertheless, this story is true. When Colonel In- 
gersoll was trying his last case in June — it was the famous 
Rogers will case — he felt the strain of his work as never 
before. Perhaps this partially opened his eyes to his physi- 
cal condition. At any rate, he said that night to a friend, who 
in turn has written the words to a Philadelphian ; " I should 
like a quick death, but for one thing. I want to show people 
that I can die calmly, in my own faith or non-faith. It's 
a vanity, no doubt, yet I should want to go that way. But 
my heart is bad, and I may perhaps go quickly. I want my 
friends to remember now that I say privately, and with no 
reason to boast, when my mind is clear, since I may die too 
suddenly to repeat it later. People have unjustly misunder- 
stood me. I am sincere. I never quarrelled with the good 
side of established religion. I have never said there is no 
God; I have only said there is no anthropomorphic God. 
I believe — I hope — that immortality is within the bounds 
of possibility. I should like people to see I could die an ag- 
nostic in the true sense of the word. Anyhow, that is my 
mature position, and while my brain is clear, I shall never 
depart from it." — Philadelphia Press. 



394 B £ST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



LACONICS. 

BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT DOCTRINE. 

Doctrine is the framework of life — the skeleton of truth, to be 
clothed and rounded out by the living grace of a holy life. — A. J. Gordon. 

Pure doctrine always bears fruit in pure benefits. — Emerson. 

Say what men may, it is doctrine that moves the world. He who 
takes no position will not sway the human intellect. — W. G. T. Shedd. 

Doctrine is the necessary foundation of human duty; if the theory 
is not correct, the practice cannot be right. Tell me what a man believes 
and I will tell you what he will do. — Try on Edwards. 

The question is not whether a doctrine is beautiful but whether it 
is true. When we wish to go to a place, we do not ask whether the 
road leads through a pretty country, but whether it is the right road. — 
Hare. 

The doctrine that rectifies the conscience, purifies the heart, and 
produces love to God and man, is necessarily true, whether men can 
comprehend all its depths and relations or not. If it destroys sin, and 
makes happiness grow out of right living and right loving, it is the 
truth of God.—/. B. Walker. 



BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT DOGMATISM. 

Nothing can be more unphilosophical than to be positive or dog- 
matical on any subject. When men are the most sure and arrogant, they 
are commonly the most mistaken and have there given reins to passion 
without that proper deliberation and suspense which alone can secure 
them from the grossest absurdities. — Hume. 

Those who refuse the long drudgery of thought, and think with the 
heart rather than the head, are ever most fiercely dogmatic. — Bayne. 

It has been said of dogmatism, that it is only puppyism gone to its 
full growth, and certainly the worst form this quality can assume is that 
of opinionativeness and arrogance. — S. Smiles. 

A dogmatical spirit inclines a man to be censorious of his neighbors. 
Every one of his opinions appears to him written as with sunbeams, and 
he grows angry that his neighbors do not see it in the same light. He 
is tempted to disdain his correspondents as men of low and dark under- 
standings because they do not believe what he does. — Watts. 



laconics. 395 

BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT THE WORLD, THE FLESH 
AND THE DEVIL. 

I have run the silly rounds of pleasure, and have done with them all. 
I have enjoyed all the pleasures of the world, and I appraise them at 
their real worth, which is, in truth very low ; those who have only seen 
their outside always overrate them, but I have been behind the scenes, 
I have seen all the coarse pulleys and dirty ropes which move the gaudy 
machines, and I have seen and smelt the tallow candles which illuminate 
the whole decoration, to the astonishment and admiration of the ignorant 
audience. When I reflect on what I have seen, what I have heard, and 
what I have done, I can hardly persuade myself that all that frivolous 
hurry and bustle of pleasure in the world had any reality ; but I look 
upon all that is passed as one of those romantic dreams which opium 
commonly occasions, and I do by no means desire to repeat the nauseous 
dose. — Chesterfield. 

"The world," is a conventional phrase, which being interpreted, signi- 
fies all the rascality in it. — Dickens. 



Everyone would have something, such perhaps as we are ashamed 
to utter. The proud man would have honor ; the covetous man, wealth 
and abundance ; the malicious, revenge on his enemies ; the epicure, 
pleasure and long life ; the barren, children ; the wanton, beauty ; each 
would be humored in his own desire, though in opposition both to God's 
will, and his own good. — Bishop Hall. 

The reason that so many want their desires, is, that their desires 
want reason. He may do what he will, who will do but what he may. — 
Warwick. 

The passions and desires, like the two twists of a rope, mutually 
mix one with the other, and twine inextricably round the heart ; pro- 
ducing good, if moderately indulged, but certain destruction, if suffered 
to become inordinate. — Burton. 

Unlawful desires are punished after the effect of enjoying; but 
impossible desires are punished in the desire itself. — Sir P. Sidney. 



As no good is done or spoken, or thought by any man without the 
assistance of God, working in and with those that believe in him, so 
there is no evil done, or spoken, or thought without the assistance of 
the devil, who worketh with strong though secret power in the children 
of unbelief. All the works of our evil nature are the works of the 
devil. — John Wesley. 

He that would fight the devil with his own weapons, must not 
wonder if he finds him an overmatch. — South. 

What, man ! defy the devil ! Consider he's an enemy to mankind. — 
Shakespeare. 

The devil knoweth his own, and is a particularly bad paymaster. — 
F. M. Cratvford. 






396 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

IF I WERE A VOICE. 

If I were a voice, a persuasive voice, 

That wouid travel the wide world through, 

I would fly on the beams of the morning light, 

And speak to men with gentle might, 
And tell them to be true ; 

I would fly, I would fly over land and sea 

Wherever a human heart might be, 

Telling a tale or singing a song, 

In praise of the right — in blame of the wrong — 

I would fly, I would fly, I would fly over land and sea. 

If I were a voice, a consoling voice, 

I'd fly on the wings of the air; 
The homes of sorrow and guilt I'd seek, 
And calm and truthful words I'd speak 

To save them from despair. 
I would fly, I would fly o'er the crowded town, 
And drop, like the happy sunlight, down 
Into the hearts of suffering men 
And teach them to look up again — 
I would fly, I would fly, I would fly o'er the 
crowded town. 

If I were a voice, a convincing voice, 

I'd travel with the wind. 
And wherever I saw the nations torn 
By warfare, jealousy, spite or scorn, 

Or hatred of their kind, 

I would fly, I would fly on the thunder crash, 
And into their blinded bosoms flash ; 
Then, with their evil thoughts subdued, 
I'd teach them Christian brotherhood — 
I would fly, I would fly, I would fly on the thun- 
der crash. 

If I were a voice, an immortal voice, 

I would fly the earth around; 
And wherever man to his idols bowed, 
I'd publish in notes both long and loud 

The Gospel's joyful sound; 
I would fly, I would fly on the wings of day, 
Proclaiming peace on my world-wide way, 
Bidding the saddened earth rejoice — 
If I were a voice, an immortal voice, 
I would fly, I would fly on the wings of day. 

/. Woodbury. 

[This, poem with considerable difference in the last two stanzas, has 
appeared over the name of Chas. Mackay.] 



CREEDS AND REASONS. 397 



CREEDS AND REASONS. 

CONTINUED. 

ROMAN CATHOLIC. 

By Father McMa\hon : " Why am I a Catholic ? Because 
it's the only church that traces her history back to the time of 
Christ. She is the only church that has its origin from 
Christ, while all the others, except the Jewish, have a modern 
and human origin. Christ promised his church permanency; 
he promised to his church also infallibility; that the Holy 
Ghost is the teacher of all truth and abides with her forever. 
There are in religion certain mysteries that transcend the 
scope of human reason, and man cannot accept them on mere 
human authority. In the Catholic church we have divine 
authority and the promise of Christ. It is sometimes said 
that Catholics do not act rationally in matters of religion, and 
submit themselves too entirely to the church, giving up their 
own freedom of thought. The Catholic is assured in the 
first place of the historical fact that the Catholic church is 
the church of Christ and the church presents her credentials 
as the embassador of our Lord, she takes the place as his 
representative on earth, and when we obey her, we obey God. 
Our Lord says : ' He that hears the church hears me, and 
he that will not hear the church, let him be to thee as a 
heathen and a publican/ Christ placed the church on earth 
to teach men, to continue his divine mission, teaching what 
they should know, what they should do, and what they should 
believe in order to be saved. He has left in the church the 
sacraments as a means to assist men to keep his command- 
ments, and to divine his will. Our Lord said : ' Without 
me ye can do nothing;' for that reason he desires men to 
have recourse to the fountains of divine grace in order 



39& BBST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

to avoid evil and do good. Our Lord also said to his church : 
1 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, he that be- 
lieveth not shall be condemned.' It is absurd to call upon 
an intelligent man to believe that churches that teach con- 
tradictory doctrines can be guided by the Holy Ghost, the 
fount of truth. Our Lord gave distinctive marks to his 
church by which it might be known, the marks of unity, 
sanctity, catholicity and apostolicity. No other church pos- 
sesses these but the Catholic church, therefore the Catholic 
church alone is the true church.' , 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 

By Judge Joseph R. Clarkson. "To Scientists, Jesus' 
teachings, joined with his demonstrations, point to the obvious 
fact that man, the man made in the image and likeness of 
God, has an eternal, harmonious existence in God, is God 
expressed, manifested, and can no more actually die, be extin- 
guished, be sick, suffer or sin than can God. 

" Utterances from the pulpit and the religious press in- 
dicate a recognition by the religious world that a religious 
revolution is impending. The cry from all quarters seems 
to be for a more spiritual religion; one that is more satis- 
fying; one that does not seem so tainted with the world; 
one that is not so devoted to material — to pomp, to page- 
antry, display, ceremonial, formal, perfunctory observances; 
one that is not so unhappily by, and of, and for the flesh; 
one that approaches nearer to the Christianity formulated and 
practiced by Jesus ; one that brings us nearer to God. Such 
a religion is the inexorable demand of the times. 

" Through Christian Science there have been, as well 
as can be estimated, nearly 2,000,000 cases of healing from 
sickness. In a majority of these cases relief by other means 
had failed. Christian Scientists say that God is to-day per- 
forming so-called miracles of much, the same character as 
those which some nineteen hundred years ago startled the 
world and roused its opposition, and that the only limitation 



CREEDS AND REASONS. 399 

on the ability to reveal God as he was revealed in those days 
is the limitation which men place on their willingness to im- 
pricitly believe and understand God as universal, eternal, spirit- 
ual intelligence, power and presence, and to obey his com- 
mandments as they have come to us through the sacred word. 

" In 1866 Mary Baker Eddy, a cultured woman of mid- 
dle age, who all her life had been a close student of the Scrip- 
tures and a devoted church woman, lay helpless, wounded, and 
pain-racked on a bed from which it was thought she would 
never rise. Left for a few moments alone, she, as had been 
her habit, lifted her thought to God. The Bible was always 
with her. She read of what Jesus did. As she read, the 
principle of divine healing came. She felt the power of God, 
and, a perfectly well woman, she rose from her bed and 
walked into the presence of her relatives. At the end of 
three years she had satisfied herself that she had discovered 
the principle of Christian, spiritual healing and regeneration, 
and was prepared to put to exacting test before the world, 
the conclusions she had reached. She at once began healing 
the sick, and from that moment was persecuted. 

" Everything that the world could do to oppose the ex- 
pansion of the Christian Science faith the world has done, 
Ridicule, malignment, falsehood, threats of violence, arrests 
of practitioners, cruel contempt expressed towards its follow- 
ers, adverse legislation, have all been marshaled against its 
advance, but to no purpose. 

" It cannot be stayed so long as it is what it is — the 
truth and the practice of the truth. Under Mrs. Eddy's God- 
directed guidance the Christian Science movement, step by 
step, has gained ground, until its host reveals the most enlight- 
ened of this era's thought, and that host, trusting in God with 
all its heart, leaning not unto its own understanding, ac- 
knowledging him in all its ways, is panoplied, lovingly and 
prayerfully, to do its part towards forwarding the redemption 
of its opponent, its enemy — the world." 



400 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

SPIRITUAL AND MATERIAL IN MEDICINE. 
By William M. Polk, M. D., Dean of Cornell Medical College. 

The history of medicine shows that man's conceptions 
of the limits separating the two influences, spiritual and mater- 
ial, which govern his ailments, have shifted their position; 
the material having gained ground, so that now medicine 
faces and overcomes conditions which formerly were aban- 
doned as beyond it. The improvements in the handling of 
epidemic and contagious diseases fully exemplify my asser- 
tion, rendering needless any citation of the advances in surg- 
ery, for instance, with which all are familiar. 

Admitting that medicine, like all material agencies, has 
its limits, we come to the question immediately before us. 
Does the spiritual, as manifested in Christian Science, so- 
called, occupy a field not covered by medicine, or which cannot 
be better covered by it ? 

Medicine ever seeking to push further and further its 
domain over disease and death, has constantly before it new 
remedies — large sums in energy, education, intellect and 
money are being expended the world over in this direction, 
and every measure of relief or cure is promptly heralded and 
tested by eager experts. 

It is true that certain claims are viewed with less favor 
than others, because of their origin, and to this class Christian 
Science belongs. But in spite of even this drawback, sooner 
or later all are taken up and tested; and so it has been with 
Christian Science. 

Medicine has always recognized that the mental state 
of a patient influenced the course of his disease; that optim- 
ism aided him more than pessimism, and while it would not 
overcome organic changes it would lighten his sufferings and 
add to his ability to curtail the crippling influence of disease. 

But the role which optimism must play in any given 
case is to be determined by the inherent forces possessed by 
the patient — those with which his optimism can be backed 



CREEDS AND REASONS. 4OI 

up in the contest waging — and so to-day a man paralyzed 
from a blood clot on his brain is encouraged to be up 
and about as soon as he has recovered from the initial shock 
of the injury and another with certain forms of heart dis- 
ease is put to exercise so as to strengthen what heart he has, 
but with each some limit is set to be determined by a careful 
estimate of the structural strength involved, which estimate 
is based upon the investigation of a qualified expert in such 
matters. 

Push mental or spiritual therapeutics further, push it to 
the point of commanding these people to get up, walk, run — 
do anything which a state of mental exaltation may suggest 
— and you soon find that the line of safety has been passed. 



SPIRITUALIST. 

By Mr. Thomas Lees : " Why am I a Spiritualist ? Be- 
cause I can't help it. My belief is the result of investiga- 
tions into the phenomena of Spiritualism extending over a 
period of twenty-five years. It took just that time to con- 
vince me of the fact of a future existence, and the possibility 
of communication between us and our departed friends. I 
was convinced in my own family relations — receiving com- 
munications from departed relatives which none but they 
could have thought of sending. My belief is based on indis- 
putable facts. I rarely consult a medium on matters of busi- 
ness, believing that I know as much of the affairs of the 
world as the spirits do. I believe in Spiritualism as you or 
any one believes in established scientific facts, and for the 
same reasons. It is a matter of logic and scientific research. 
I am proud of being an Englishman by birth, prouder of 
being an American by adoption, and proudest of being a 
Spiritualist from conviction. To tell you all the reasons why 
I am a Spiritualist would involve descriptions of phenomena 
and deductions from experience almost without end." 



402 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



LACONICS. 

BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT SIN. 

The recognition of sin is the beginning of salvation. — Luther. 

He that hath slight thoughts of sin never had great thoughts of 
God. — Owen. 

I fear nothing but doing wrong. — Sterne. 

Bad men hate sin through fear of punishment; good men hate sin 
through love of virtue. — Juvenal. 

The deadliest sin were the consciousness of no sin. — Carlyte. 

He that falls into sin is a man, that grieves at it is a saint, that 
boasteth of it is a devil; yet some glory in that shame, counting the 
stains of sin the best complexion of their souls. — Fuller. 

No sin is small. It is against an infinite God, and may have con- 
sequences immeasurable. No grain is small in the mechanism of a 
watch. — Jeremy Taylor. 

How immense appear to us the sins we have not committed. — Madame 
Necker. 

I could not live in peace if I put the shadow of a wilful sin between 
myself and God.— George Eliot. 

There is no fool equal to the sinner, who every moment ventures 
his soul. — Tillotson. 

If I grapple with sin in my own strength, the devil knows he may 
go to sleep. — H. G. J. Adams. 

Ever}' sin is a mistake, as well as a wrong; and the epitaph for the 
sinner is, "Thou fool!" — A. Maclaren. 

There is more bitterness in sin's ending than there ever was in its 
acting. If you see nothing but good in its commission, you will suffer 
only woe in its conclusion. — Dyer. 

If I were sure God would pardon me, and men would not know my 
sin, yet I should be ashamed to sin, because of its essential baseness. — Plato. 

Few love to hear the sins they love to act. — Shakespeare. 



: 



LACONICS. 403 

BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT PUNISHMENT. 

It is as expedient that a wicked man be punished .as that a sick man 
be cured by a physician; for all chastisement is a kind of medicine. — Plato. 

God is on the side of virtue; for whoever dreads punishment suffers 
it, and whoever deserves it dreads it. — Colton. 

The exposition of future punishment in God's word is not to be 
regarded as a threat, but as a merciful declaration. If in the ocean of 
life, over which we are bound to eternity, there are these rocks and shoals, 
it is no cruelty to chart them down; it is an eminent and prominent 
mercy. — Beecher. 

The existence of future punishment and everlasting destruction is an 
evidence of the goodness, the justice and the wisdom of God: of good- 
ness, in that it is a motive to prevent sin and turn men from evil ; of 
justice, in that it is the righteous doom of irreclaimable sinners; and of 
wisdom, in that God can thus make the penalty of sin a motive to deter 
from sin. — /. B. Walker. 

Don't let us rejoice in punishment, even when the hand of God 
inflicts it. The best of us are but poor wretches just saved from ship- 
wreck. Can we feel anything but awe and pity when we see a fellow 
passenger swallowed up by the waves? — George Eliot. 

The object of punishment is the prevention of evil; it can never be 
made impulsive to good. — Horace Mann. 

One man meets an infamous punishment for that crime which confers 
a diadem upon another. — Juvenal. 

We will not punish a man because he hath offended, but that he may 
offend no more ; nor does punishment ever look to the past, but to the 
future; for it is not the result of passion, but that the same thing may 
be guarded against in time to come. — Seneca. 

Faults of the head are punished in this world; those of the heart in 
another; but as most of our vices are compound, so is their punish- 
ment. — Colton. 



BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT HELL 

The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, 
a hell of heaven. — Milton 

If there be a paradise for virtues, there must be a hell for crime9. 
— Caussin. 

Divines and dying men may talk of hell, 

But in my heart her several torments dwell. — Shakespeare. 

Hell is truth seen too late — duty neglected in its season. — Tryon 
Edwards. 

Hell is full of good meanings and wishings. — Herbert. 



404 B E sT THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Hell is as ubiquitous as condemning conscience. — F. W. Robertson. 

Hell is full knowledge of the truth, when truth, resisted long, is 
sworn our foe, and calls eternity to do her right. — Young. 

Tell me not of the fire and the worm, and the blackness and darkness 
of hell. To my terrified conscience there is hell enough in this represen- 
tation of it, that it is the common sewer of all that is abominable and 
abandoned and reckless as to principle, and depraved as to morals, the 
one common eddy where all things that are polluted and wretched and 
filthy are gathered together. — Beaumont. 

Men might go to heaven with half the labor they put forth to go to 
hell, if they would but venture their industry in the right way. — Ben 
Jonson. 

A guilty conscience is a hell on earth, and points to one beyond. 

—Anon. 

Hell is but the collected ruins of the moral world, and sin is the prin- 
ciple that has made them. — Anon. 

When the world dissolves, all places will be hell that are not heaven. 

— Marlowe. 

In the utmost solitudes of nature the existence of hell seems to me as 
legibly declared, by a thousand spiritual utterances, as that of heaven. 
— Ruskin. 

Character is not changed by passing into eternity, except in degree. 
The wilfully wicked on earth will continue so in the other world. 

"Hell is paved with good mentions,'" says Johnson. — Better say the 
way to it is. 



OLD BUT GOOD. 



A German, addressing his dog, said : 

You vas only a dog, but I vish I vas you. Ven you go mit de bed 
in. you shust durn round dree times und lay down. Ven I go mit de bed 
in, I haf to lock up de blace, und vind de clock, und put de cat oud, und 
undress myself, und my vife vakes up und scoles me. Den de baby 
cries und I haf to valk him up and down ; den maype ven I shust go to 
sleep, it's time to get up again. Ven you get up you shust scratch your- 
self a couple o' times und stretch, und you vas up. I haf to quick lite de 
fire, und put de kittle on, scrap mit my vife already, und maype get some 
breakfast. You play all tay und haf plenty of fun. I haf to vork all tay 
und haf plenty of drouble. Ven you die, you's dead; ven I die, I haf to 
go to hell yet." — Found Floating. 



CREEDS AND REASONS. 4°5 



CREEDS AND REASONS. 

CONTINUED. 

UNITARIAN. 

Rev. Joseph Henry Crooker, D. D.\ "I am a Unitarian 
because the Unitarian Gospel began with the discovery that 
we live in a Universe. Its original affirmation was the unity 
of God. The great teachings of science respecting the unity 
of energy, the unity of life, the unity of humanity, are con- 
firmations of that early conviction. 

The prophetic writings, such as those by Amos, Hosea, 
Micah, and Isaiah, represent the spiritual and enduring ele- 
ments in the Old Testament. In their protest against sacrifice, 
idolatry, formalism, injustice, and selfishness, and in their 
teaching of the unity, holiness, and goodness of God, they 
set forth what are now the essential Unitarian principles. 
Their plea that righteousness is what God demands and what 
man needs, — • that righteousness is blessedness, — is our 
plea. 

We claim to teach what was central and essential in the 
message of Jesus. We lay our emphasis on the Beatitudes, 
the Golden Rule, the law of Love (Matt. xxii. 34-40). We 
find the way of salvation described in his parables, where 
purity is set forth as the condition, growth the method, love 
the motive, character the fruitage, and service the expression 
of Eternal Life, or the kingdom of heaven. , 

We do not appeal to the New Testament as a document 
of final and infallible authority, and we do not claim that the 
Unitarian Gospel is merely an echo of apostolic Christianity. 
But we do claim to represent its spirit and ideal. When Peter 
declared, " Of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of 
persons, but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh 



406 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

righteousness is accepted with him/' he proclaimed the Uni- 
tarian faith. When he described the ministry of Jesus to 
consist in " turning every one of you from his iniquities," 
he spoke like a Unitarian. See Acts iii. 26; x. 34, 35. 

When Paul preached, " In God we live and move and 
have our being," and when he wrote, " And now abideth 
faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is 
love." he stood on ground now occupied by Unitarians. See 
Acts xvii. 28; 1 Cor. xiii. 13. 

And when it was written by John or in the name of John, 
" Let us love one another, for love is of God ; and every 
one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God" (1 John 
iv. 7), the writer defined the Unitarian position. There are 
other things in the New Testament, but these teachings made 
the glory and strength of early Christianity, and they are the 
things that are eternal and that we lay to heart . 

In the primitive churches there were beliefs in respect to 
the messiahship and second coming of Jesus, superstitions 
respecting baptism, and uses of the Old Testament, which are 
no part of our religion. But it is generally conceded by 
modern scholars that the original Christianity was not the 
acceptance of a creed but the adoption of a spirit like that 
of Jesus, and that the early churches were democratic in form, 
each independent, with no elaborate ceremonials and no radi- 
cal distinctions between clergy and laity. 

Great scholars representing many different denomina- 
tions agree to-day that the deification of Jesus, as found in the 
Nicene and trinitarian creeds, has no adequate warrant in 
Scripture, and does not represent the original faith, but that 
it was a slowly developed philosophical afterthought, which 
was rooted, not in the words of Jesus or the beliefs of his 
disciples, but in the mystical speculations o-f Alexandria. 

It is also admitted that the so-called " Apostles' Creed " 
does not accurately report the ideas of primitive Christianity. 
It was not set forth by the Apostles themselves, but was slow- 
ly evolved under the stress of many controversies, and reached 
its present shape after the fourth century. 



CREEDS AND REASONS. 407 

No modern church exactly reproduces the original Chris- 
tian faith, polity, or ritual (it is not necessary that they should 
be reproduced); but what we claim is, (i) That many 
of the dogmas made prominent in the creeds of Christendom 
have no warrant in the teachings of Jesus; (2) That the 
spiritual and eternal elements of primitive Christianity are 
affirmed by Unitarians. 

There are many religious bodies in general sympathy 
with the Unitarians who do not take our name. The Uni- 
versalist churches in America are almost identical with the 
Unitarian in religious position and theological teaching. The 
Hicksite Quakers and Progressive Friends, carrying out the 
spirit of William Penn (who forcibly opposed trinitarian and 
dogmatic Christianity in " Sandy Foundation Shaken,'' 1668) 
are in general harmony with the best Unitarian thought. 
The Liberal Protestants in France and Switzerland have 
practically the same beliefs. In Germany there are many 
Liberals among Lutherans and Evangelicals, associated in the 
Protestanten Verein, who are in general agreement with 
Unitarian views. The progressive movement among the 
Jews, Reformed Judaism, is in substantial accord with the 
Unitarian spirit. There is a large and influential party in 
Holland, with the University of Leiden as its centre of 
culture, which is Unitarian in everything but name. The 
Brahmo Somaj of India, a noble band of Theists who repre- 
sent the advance guard of religious progress in that land, are 
in closest fellowship with English and American Unitarians. 

It would be easy to make a long list of eminent men and 
women from all parts of the world who have shown great 
appreciation of the Unitarian movement or who have occu- 
pied a similar position. Dean Stanley, of Westminster, 
wrote some twenty years ago: "The Unitarian church, in- 
cluding within itself almost all the cultured scholarship of 
America in the beginning of this century, was unquestionably 
at the summit of the civilized Christianity of the western con- 
tinent." 

The great Spanish reformer and statesman, Castelar, 
made this declaration: " The simple religion of the future 



408 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

will be a religion whose dogmas are summed up in the two 
fundamental ones of the existence of God and the immortality 
of the soul, completed by the purest morality, which breathes 
forth a disinterested love of goodness for its own sake," — 
precisely the spirit and ideal of Unitarians. 

Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, used these words 
to Professor Kovacs, his fellow-countryman, a Unitarian: 
" I rejoice over your connection with the English and Amer- 
ican Unitarians. Spread their ideas and faith as widely as 
you can in Hungary. Their faith is the only faith which has 
a future; the only one that can influence the intelligent and 
interest the indifferent." 

Prof. David Swing represented a large multitude who 
have never taken our name but who share our general views 
ot religion and life. His own words were just what arc 
preached from every Unitarian pulpit : " From such a dark 
estimate of God and Christ as this old notion [of Calvinism] 
involves, it is sweet to return to the thought that the law of 
salvation by morality is not a lottery, but, like the law of 
industry, it lies open for all." , 

The interpretations of life and religion set forth in the 
great works of fiction by George Eliot and Mrs. Humphrey 
Ward — the greatest novelists among women — are essenti- 
ally Unitarian. Both of these distinguished authors have been 
very closely associated with the Unitarians. Many eminent 
clergymen in Scotland, nominally Presbyterian, practically oc- 
cupy our ground, — such men as Rev. Dr. George Macdonald 
in his stories, Rev. Dr. Robert H. Story in his sermons, and 
Rev. Dr. Walter C. Smith in his poems. Two of the greatest 
literary influences during the last century among English- 
speaking peoples were Thomas Carlyle and Matthew Arnold ; 
and both, while they cannot be called Unitarians, were, in the 
essence of their messages, really pleading for the things cen- 
tral in our Gospel. Three of the men who, in various ways, 
have most adorned and enriched the life of the Orient in recent 
years have been our approving friends, — Ram Mohun Roy, 
founder of the Brahmo Somaj, Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, the 



CREEDS AND REASONS. 409 

celebrated Parsee philanthropist, and Yukichi Fukuzawa, " the 
grand old man " of Japan. 

The four men, all profoundly religious, who were the 
greatest interpreters of human life among our poets during 
the nineteenth century were in general harmony with our 
spiritual ideals, — in fact, their words have contributed to the 
making of modern Unitarianism, — Goethe and Victor Hugo, 
Browning and Tennyson. We would not try to narrow these 
great geniuses to any sectarian position; but we do claim 
that the great essentials in their messages are the things that 
we emphasize. 

Count Tolstoi, the greatest living literary genius at the 
present time, has recently given expression to the following 
views : " It is true I deny an incomprehensible Trinity and 
the fable regarding the fall of man, which is absurd in our 
day. It is true I deny the sacrilegious story of a god born of 
a virgin to redeem the human race. But God-Spirit, God- 
Love, God the sole principle of all things, I do not deny. I 
believe in eternal life, and I believe that man is rewarded ac- 
cording to his deeds here and everywhere, now and forever. 
I believe that the will of God was never so clearly, so precisely 
explained as in the doctrine of the man Christ. But one 
cannot regard Christ as God, and offer prayers to him, with- 
out committing the greatest sacrilege." This is really a sum- 
mary of the Unitarian faith. 



UNIVERSALIST. 



By Rev. Dr Marion D. Shutter: i. Let me begin this state- 
ment by presenting what we believe concerning the Bible. 
We believe that it contains a revelation from God. I do not 
mean by this that we hold the book to be infallible in its 
history and science; not that we believe it to be free from 
human limitations and mistakes ; not that we believe it to be 
an inerrant oracle of Deity. But we find here the ideas of a 
people dowered beyond any other with a genius for religion; 
we find here the records of experiences in which God spoke 



4IO BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

to their inmost souls; we find here the truths that guided 
those who tried them and trusted them to 1 the highest and 
holiest developments of character. All these ideas and ex- 
periences and precepts speak to us to-day. They guide and 
inspire and transform us. We can no more ignore the results 
of the Hebrew genius for religion than we can drop Greece 
from the history of art, or Rome from the development of 
law. Those prophets and singers and apostles are our teachers 
and leaders to-day. But we do* not confine the spirit of in- 
spiration to the Hebrews. We realize that God has spoken to 
us in all history and in the noblest literature of modern, no 
less than of ancient, times. He has revealed himself in the 
results of science, and in the deeper study of human nature 
itself. From the alphabet of man's struggles and achieve- 
ments in the past, of his struggles and aims in the present, 
v/e spell out the larger revelation of the ages. 

"Slowly the Bible of the race is writ, 
And not on paper leaves or leaves of stone; 

Each age, each kindred, adds a verse to it — 
Texts of despair or hope, of joy or moan. 

While swings the sea, while mists the mountains shroud, 

While thunder's surges burst on cliffs of cloud, 
Still at the prophet's feet the nations sit." 

OUR BEWEF ABOUT GOD. 

The next great question is, What do the Universalists 
believe concerning God? The word is too large for minute 
definition ; but we believe ( i ) that God is One, as opposed to 
any doctrine of the Trinity, (2) that He is immanent in his 
universe, as the soul within the body, in opposition to the old 
view that regarded Him " as an individualized, outlined, lim- 
ited being, who had planned and made the universe in six 
days, and who ruled it from without as a despot governs a 
kingdom." (3) We believe that He exists, not as impersonal 
force, but as intelligence, purpose and love, as well as power. 
To many minds, the idea of personality is objectionable be- 
cause it seems to imply limitation, to make God simply a mag- 
nified man, and to localize him somewhere in the universe. In 
other words, they think that if the idea of personality be re- 



CREEDS AND REASONS. 411 

tained, we have made no advance in our conception of God. 
Without, sanctioning anything like restriction or localizing, 
it seems true that whether we use the word " personal " or 
not, — and I do not insist upon the word, — there are yet 
certain elements of personality which we necessarily ascribe 
to God in all our discussions concerning Him. Everywhere 
we see signs of what, in man, we should call intelligence; 
everywhere a tendency to righteousness and retribution that, 
in man, we should say, betokened a moral nature; every- 
where a purpose prevailingly beneficent that, in man, we 
should say, indicated goodness. Judged, therefore, by the 
only standard we possess, our reason, according to the only 
data we have, the Bible, history and human nature, we should 
say that the power back of the universe and back of ourselves, 
which we call God, is also a power that works toward an end; 
works for righteousness, works for human perfection. We, 
therefore, believe that, however we may at last define God, he 
is supremely good — as against the old ideas of his hate and 
vengeance! Indeed, we may compress the whole of our 
thought upon this subject into the apostle's matchless sen- 
tence, " God is Love," and set it brilliant as a star in the mid- 
night of the world's theology. 

BELIEF CONCERNING CHRIST. 

We do not believe that he was God; we do not believe 
that he belonged to some race or order of beings above the 
human; but that he was one with us, our brother, our friend, 
our teacher, our leader. The common distinction between 
human and divine is fictitious and arbitrary. When, there- 
fore, the question is asked, " Do you believe in the divinity of 
Jesus Christ?" we ask in return, "What do you mean by 
divinity?" (1) If you mean to ask, " Do you believe that 
Christ was God? " we answer, " No." (2) If you mean to 
ask, " Do you believe that Christ belonged to some super- 
natural rank and order — that he was a being neither God nor 
man, but between the two?" again we answer, "No." If 
either of these things be held to constitute divinity, then we 



412 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

do not believe in his divinity. (3) But, if by divinity be 
meant qualities that are godlike, exalted character, marvel- 
lous spiritual endowment, wonderful power of moral inspira- 
tion, a sense of oneness with the life and the goodness and the 
purpose of God, — if these things be rheant, then we believe 
that Jesus was divine! The record of his life on earth is em- 
balmed in the fragmentary sketches that we find in the Gospels 
and is to be read in the light of modern criticism and estab- 
lished scientific principles. But when all deductions are made, 
when all allowances for the growth of myth and legend are 
made, — and that myth and legend mingle with the facts of 
his life related in the gospels, cannot be doubted, — there still 
remains the figure of the supremest Son of Man, the sublim- 
est Son of God. We revere him to-day for the spirit he mani- 
fested and the ideals he created. We accept him as our 
Saviour — not by virtue of any bloody sacrifice, but because 
he saves us from sin by the inspiring qualities of his teaching 
and the power of his own character and example. There are 
differences of opinion among us upon many questions about 
Jesus ; but that we are to reverence his goodness, to cultivate 
his spirit, to follow his teachings of love to God and Man, — 
upon these points there is unity. We are all agreed that these 
are the essential things ; that he who thus finds Christ is the 
real Christian! If Jesus was a man like us, let us strive to 
become such men as he ! He who thus finds Christ is the real 
Christian, whatever he may think about his rank and miracles. 

OUR BELIEF ABOUT MAN. 

Over against the idea that he is a fallen being we set 
the belief that he has risen and is still rising. Over against 
the doctrine that he is totally depraved, we set the facts of 
human nature, which show us that there are germs and pos- 
sibilities of good in his heart. (1) Even among those who 
arc regarded as filling out the conception of total depravity 
to completion, we sometimes find most astonishing exhibi- 
tions of nobility and disinterested kindness. (2) And when 
we study human nature in the average type of mankind, in 



CREEDS AND REASONS. 413 

addition to actual virtues, we must take account of ideals. 
We all look forward and upward. We all see something 
before us that we know we ought to attain. We have all 
nad experiences, too, that, for the moment, lifted us above 
the earth. There are times when we feel at peace within 
and with all the world; times when we are generous, unsel- 
fish, loving, prayerful; times when we feel that heaven is 
very near. What are these moments but intimations of 
states that may yet become permanent with the spirit? (3) 
We must also study human nature in the exceptionally 
good and great of earth. They are men. They show what 
human nature is capable of. The loftiest is linked to the 
lowest, — the consummate blossom that disports in the sun 
from the loftiest bough, is brother of the unsightly root that 
delves in the dark and dampness. Christ himself is the 
great revealer of the divinity that inheres in human nature. 
He prays that his followers may be one with God as he is 
one with the Father. We believe that every man is a son 
of God and an heir of eternity; that it is his chief concern 
to develop the germs of that which is godlike within him. 
The only thing he shall take with him from this world, 
when the summons comes, is his character. When a new 
building is being erected, it is covered with rude posts and 
boards which form the scaffolding upon which the work- 
men stand. One does not see the real nature of the work 
until these have been removed. Who would insist upon 
leaving these scaffoldings after the building is completed? 
Now, our business, our professions, our daily toils, — these 
are the scaffoldings upon which we stand to build the tem- 
ple of God in our hearts and lives. These are the external 
means; not the moral and spiritual end. Let us not become 
absorbed in the scaffolding. Let us not stop with that. 
When death takes it down at last, may the Lord and Ruler 
of Life behold, in the light of eternity, a fair and beautiful 
structure of character, whose spires shall catch the light 
and reflect the glory of God! 



414 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

OUR MESSAGE CONCERNING DESTINY. 

We believe in the life hereafter, in the continued iden- 
tity of the spirit. We believe that we are saved or lost here 
and now as well as beyond. Salvation is righteousness, 
damnation is sin. Righteousness will bring peace of con- 
science in the next world as well as here ; and this peace of 
conscience is heaven. Sin will bring misery and remorse 
in the next world as well as here; and this misery and 
remorse is hell. So long as there is sin, so long there will 
be suffering, in this world or any world. But this suffering, 
we believe, will be remedial and disciplinary. Every soul 
will at last repent and turn to God. The old doctrine of 
endless torment we reject. It has been the nightmare of 
theology, the blight and bane of intellectual freedom. Suf- 
fering there will be, retribution will overtake the evil-doer, 
justice will be done. But beyond the penalty and the woe, 
beyond the anguish of remorse and the pangs of guilt, 
there arises the vision of ultimate deliverance and gladness! 
This vision throws a rainbow's arch over every life and 
lights a star of hope over every grave. We affirm that the 
only reasonable outcome to those who believe in immortal- 
ity at all, is the triumph of good over evil in every soul and 
throughout the universe. We affirm that the spirit of love 
which is manifested in all human relationships, that is 
especially manifested in such souls as Xavier, Paul and 
Jesus, will search every wilderness on every planet, will 
scour perdition itself, to find the last lost sheep. We believe 
that the cry of the Lost Soul, in Whittier's poem, will 
sooner or later be the humble and honest prayer of every 
one who has wandered from God and righteousness: 

" 'Father of all,' he urges his strong plea, 
'Thou lovest all ; thy erring child may be 
Lost to himself, but never lost to thee ! 

'All souls are thine; the wings of morning bear 
None from thy presence which is everywhere; 
Nor hell itself can hide ; for Thou art there. 

'Through sins of sense, perversities of will, 

Through doubt and pain, through guilt and shame and ill, 

Thy pitying eye is on thy creature still. 



CREEDS AND REASONS. 415 

'Wilt thou not make, Eternal source and goal, 
In thy long years, life's broken circle whole? 
And change to praise the cry of a lost soul?'" 

And only when the cry of that soul is changed to praise, 
will the universe ring with the final shout of victory " God is 
all and in all!" 



" We are told of a God who acts for his own benefit ab- 
stractly from his creation; and that in millions of cases he 
finds it most to his glory to make his rational, hoping, waiting 
creatures miserable; and this is called goodness. We are 
likewise told of a devil, who acts for his own gratification 
and who delights in making God's creatures miserable, and 
this is called badness. But for my part, according to such 
statements the difference between goodness and badness is so 
small I can hardly distinguish it. It is profane, in my opinion, 
to attribute a disposition to the Almighty which we can justly 
condemn in ourselves." — Hosea Ballou. 

" Not mine to look where cherubim 

And seraphs may not see, 
But nothing can be good in Him 

Which evil is in me !" 

—John Greenleaf Whittier. 



JEWISH. 

By Rabbi M. Machol : " Judaism is the oldest and most 
sensible religion and the most tolerant religion since it ad- 
vocates the common fatherhood of God and the common 
brotherhood of man. The Jewish religion does not consist 
merely in belief and practice of ceremonies, but is more a 
religion of deed than of creed. Ours are the predictions of 
the prophets. All the writings made use of by other religions 
were originally Jewish. But most important of all is the 
fact that the influence of the Jewish life is such as to prevent 
vices from our race, since we find very few in penitentiaries 
and prisons. Why, therefore, should we not be Jewish ? " 



4I& BEST THOUGHTS OF* BEST THINKERS. 



A SOUL'S APPEAL. 

Where is God? I seek the clue. 
I am weary of the blue 
Heaven of silence overhead; 
Must I wait till I am dead, 
Till my life lamp cease to glow, 
Ere I know? 

Where is God? I need him sol 
Not a pathway can man show ; 
I am only told to look 
At his precepts in a book, 
Written very long ago, 
Past the snow 

Of dumb centuries. I have faith, 
But it is a shadow wraith, 
To the Presence that I crave, 
Wise and splendid, sweet and grave, 
And I plead from earth's scarred sod, 
Where is God? 

Nature, in her garments fair, 
Wrought of glittering worlds and air, 
Oftentimes my spirit chides; 
I can see where she abides, 
In her rainbow-tinted chair, 
God is — where? 

It has not my soul sufficed, 
That there was a heavenly Christ ; 
That he sighed as mortals sigh, 
That he died as mortals die, 
His divineness I adore, 
More and more. 

Yet I ask this side the tomb, 
More, O God, than faith's white bloom. 
Must I wait till angels fling 
Wide the palace gates, my King? 
Tread the death path always trod, 
To find God? 

— Laura Rosamond White. 



LACONICS. 417 



LACONICS. 

BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT FORGIVENESS. 

To err is human; to forgive, divine. — Pope. 

We pardon as long as we love. — Rochefoucauld. 

We forgive too little; forget too much. — Madame Swetchine. 

They never pardon who commit the wrong. — Dryden. 

We hand folks over to God's mercy and show none ourselves. — 
George Bliot. 

Life that ever needs forgiveness has for its first duty to forgive. — 
Bulwer. 

He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he him- 
self must pass, if he would ever reach heaven ; for every one has need 
to be forgiven. — Herbert. 

Forgiveness is the most necessary and proper work of every man; 
for, though when I do not a just thing, or a charitable, or a wise, another 
man may do it for me, yet no man can forgive my enemy but myself. — 
Herbert. 

Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or 
else forgiving another. — Richter. 

When thou forgivest, the man who has pierced thy heart stands to 
thee in the relation of the sea-worm, that perforates the shell of the 
mussel, which straightway closes the wound with a pearl. — Richter. 

Hath any wronged thee? Be bravely revenged. Slight it, and the 
work is begun: forgive, and it is finished. He is below himself that is 
not above an injury. — Quarles. 

Who from crimes would pardoned be, 

In mercy should set others free. — Shakespeare. 

The more we know, the better we forgive, 

Whoe'er feels deeply, feefs for all that live. — Madame De Stacl. 

Of him that hopes to be forgiven it is required that he forgive. On 
this great duty eternity is suspended; and to him that refuses to practice 
it the throne of mercy is inaccessible, and the Savior of the world has 
been born in vain. — Johnson. 

Pardon is the virtue of victory. — Mazzini. 

Pardon others often, thyself never. — Publius Syrius, 



418 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT ETERNITY. 

What is eternity? was asked of a deaf and dumb pupil, and the 
beautiful and striking answer was, "It is the lifetime of the Almighty." 

Eternity is a negative idea clothed with a positive name. It supposes 
in that to which it is applied, a present existence, and is the negation of a 
beginning or end of that existence. — Paley. 

The infinite past and the infinite future meet in the present moment, 
and we live in eternity now. — Maimer D. Gould. 

No man can pass into eternity, for he is already in it. — Canon Farrar. 



Eternity looks grander and kinder as time grows meaner and more 
hostile. — Carlyle. 

The thought of eternity consoles for the shortness of life. — Male- 
sherbes. 

Eternity, thou pleasing, dreadful thought! through what variety of 
■untried being! through what new scenes and changes must we pass! 
The wide, the unbounded prospect lies before me; but shadows, clouds 
and darkness rest upon it. — Addison. 

There is, I know not how, in the minds of men, a certain presage, as 
it were, of a future existence, and this takes the deepest root, and is most 
discoverable in the greatest geniuses and most exalted souls. — Cicero. 

The grand difficulty is so to feel the reality of both worlds as to 
give each its due place in our thoughts and feelings — to keep our mind's 
eye, and our heart's eye ever fixed on the land of promise, without look- 
ing away from the road along which we are to travel toward it. — Hare. 

All the past is ours, because the present is the summation of the past ; 
V'hile all the future is ours by reason of immortality. — Hialmer D. Gould. 

Every natural longing has its natural satisfaction. If we thirst, God 
his created liquids to gratify thirst. If we are susceptible of attachment, 
there are beings to gratify that love. If we thirst for life and love eternal, 
it is likely that there is an eternal life and an eternal love to satisfy that 
craving. — F. W. Robertson. 



BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT HEAVEN. 

If ever I reach heaven, I expect to find three wonders there: first, 
to meet some I had not thought to see there ; second, to miss some I had 
expected to see there; and third, the greatest wonder of all, to find 
myself there.— John Newton. 

The love of heaven makes one heavenly — Shakespeare. 

Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot cure. — Moore. 



LACONICS. 419 

My chief conception of heaven, said Robert Hall, is rest. Mine, said 
Wilberforce, is love. Southey looked to it as a place of intellectual 
activity and enjoyment; Foster, as unfolding all the mysteries of truth 
and providence ; Leighton, as the world of spirituality and holiness ; 
Payson, as where he should see Christ, and be with, and serve, and enjoy 
him forever. Unite them all, and add all that heart can wish, or thought 
conceive, or we receive for eternity, and is not this heaven? — Tryon 
Edwards. 

Heaven will be the endless portion of every man who has heaven 
in his soul. — Beecher. 

The kingdom is within you. — Bible. 

Every man is received in heaven who receives heaven in himself 
while in the world, and he is excluded who does not — Swedenborg. 

Heaven must be in me before I can be in heaven. — Stanford. 

No man will go to heaven when he dies who has not sent his heart 
thither while he lives. Our greatest security is to be derived from duty, 
and our only confidence from the mercy of God, through Jesus Christ. — 
Bishop Wilson. 

We are as near to heaven as we are far from self, and far from 
the love of a sinful world. — Rutherford. 

He who seldom thinks of heaven is not likely to get there; the only 
way to hit the mark is to keep the eye fixed upon it. — Bishop Home. 

It is heaven only that is given away — only God may be had for the 
asking. — James Russell Lozvell. 

There are treasures laid up in the heart — treasures of charity, piety, 
temperance and soberness. These treasures a man takes with him beyond 
death when he leaves this world. — Buddhist Scriptures. 

Every saint in heaven is a flower in the garden of God, and holy 
love is the fragrance and sweet odor that they all send forth, and with 
which they fill the bowers of that paradise above. Every soul there is 
a note in some concert of delightful music, that sweetly harmonizes with 
every other note, and all together blend in the most rapturous strains in 
praising God and the Lamb forever. — Jonathan Edwards. 

If God hath made this world so fair, 

Where sin and death abound, 
How beautiful, beyond compare, 

Will paradise be found. — Montgomery. 

One sweetly solemn thought comes to me o'er and o'er; 
I'm nearer to my home to-day than I've ever been before ; 
Nearer my Father's house, where the many mansions be ; 
Nearer the great white throne, nearer the jasper sea; 
Nearer the bound of life, where I lay my burden down ; 
Nearer leaving my cross; nearer wearing my crown. 

— Phoebe Carey. 



420 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Go wing your way from star to star, 
From world to luminous world as far 

As the universe spreads its flaming wall; 
Take all the pleasures of all the spheres, 
And multiply each through endless years, 

One minute of heaven is worth them all. 

"Do you think we shall know each other in heaven?" said one friend 
to another. "Yes," was the answer, "do you think we shall be greater 
fools than here?" — Evans. 

Where is heaven? I cannot tell. Even to the eye of faith, heaven 
looks much like a star to the eye of flesh. Set there on the brow of 
night, it shines most bright, most beautiful; but it is separated from us 
by so great a distance as to be raised almost as high above our investi- 
gations as above the storms and clouds of earth. — Guthrie. 

To us who are Christians, is it not a solemn thought, but a delight- 
ful thought, that perhaps nothing but the opaque bodily eye prevents us 
from beholding the gate which is open just before us; and nothing but 
the dull ear prevents us from hearing the ringing of those bells of joy 
which welcome us to the heavenly land. — Beecher. 



THEOSOPHY. 421 



THEOSOPHY. 

"He who does not practice altruism ; he who is not prepared to share 
his last morsel with a weaker or poorer than himself; he who neglects 
to help his brother man, of whatever race, nation, or creed, whenever 
and wherever he meets suffering, and who turns a deaf ear to the cry of 
human misery ; he who hears an innocent person slandered, whether a 
brother Theosophist or not, and does not undertake his defence as he 
would undertake his own — is no Theosophist. — H. P. Blavatsky. 

Theosophy is that ocean of knowledge which spreads 
from shore to shore of the evolution of sentient beings; un- 
fathomable in its deepest parts, it gives the greatest minds 
their fullest scope, yet, shallow enough at its shores, it will 
not overwhelm the understanding of a child. It is wisdom 
about God for those who believe that he is all things and in 
all, and wisdom about nature for the man who accepts the 
statement found in the Christian Bible that God cannot be 
measured or discovered, and that darkness is around his 
pavilion. 

It is not a belief or dogma formulated or invented by 
man, but is a knowledge of the physical, astral, psychical, and 
intellectual constituents of nature and of man. The religion 
of the day is but a series of dogmas man-made and with no 
scientific foundation for promulgated ethics ; while our science 
as yet ignores the unseen, and failing to admit the existence 
oi a complete set of inner faculties of perception in man, it 
is cut off from the immense and real field of experience which 
lies within the visible and tangible worlds. 

That man possesses an immortal soul is the common 
belief of humanity ; to this Theosophy adds that he is a soul ; 
and further that all nature is sentient, that the vast array of 
objects and men are not mere collections of atoms fortuitously 
thrown together and thus without law evolving law, but down 



4 2 2 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

to the smallest atom all is soul and spirit ever evolving under 
the rule of law which is inherent in the whole. And just as 
the ancients taught, so does Theosophy; that the course of 
evolution is the drama of the soul and that nature exists for 
no other purpose than the soul's experience. The Theosophist 
agrees with Prof. Huxley in the assertion that there must be 
beings in the universe whose intelligence is as much beyond 
ours as ours exceeds that of the black beetle, and who take 
an active part in the government of the natural order of things. 
The most intelligent being in the universe, man, has 
never been without a friend, but has a line of elder brothers 
who continually watch over the progress of the less progressed, 
preserve the knowledge gained through aeons of trial and 
experience, and continually seek for opportunities of drawing 
the developing intelligence of the race on this or other globes 
to consider the great truths concerning the destiny of the 
soul. These elder brothers also keep the knowledge they have 
gained of the laws of nature in all departments, and are ready 
when cyclic law permits to use it for the benefit of mankind. 
They have always existed as a body, all knowing each other, 
no matter in what^part of the world they may be, and all 
working for the race in many different ways. In some periods 
they are well known to the people and move among ordinary 
men whenever the social organization, the virtue, and the 
development of the nations permit it. 

REINCARNATION. 

Alone in reincarnation is the answer to all the problems 
of life, and in it and Karma is the force that will make men 
pursue in fact the ethics they have in theory. 

Some urge that Heredity invalidates Reincarnation. We 
urge it as proof. Heredity in giving us a body in any family 
provides the appropriate environment for the Ego. The Ego 
only goes into the family which either completely answers to 
its whole nature, or which gives an opportunity for the work- 
ing out of its evolution, and which is also connected with it 
by reason of past incarnations or causes mutually set up. 
Thus the evil child may come to the presently good family 



THEOSOPHY. 423 

because parents and child are indissolubly connected by past 
actions. 

Heredity provides the tenement and also imposes those 
limitations of capacity of brain or body which are often a 
punishment and sometimes a help, but it does not affect the 
real Ego. The limitations imposed on the Ego by any family 
heredity are exact consequences of that Ego's prior lives. 

Suffering comes to nearly all men, and a great many live 
lives of sorrow from the cradle to the grave, so it is objected 
that reincarnation is unjust because we suffer for the wrong 
done by some other person in another life. This objection is 
based on the false notion that the person in the other life was 
some one else. But in every life it is the same person. When 
we come again we do not take up the body of someone else, 
nor another's deeds, but are like an actor who plays many 
parts, the same actor inside though the costumes and the lines 
recited differ in each new play. Shakespeare was right in 
saying that life is a play, for the great life of the soul is a 
drama, and each new life and rebirth another act in which we 
assume another part and put on a new dress, but all through 
it we are the self-same person. So instead of its being unjust, 
it is perfect justice, and in no other manner could justice be 
preserved. 

Memory of a prior life is not needed to prove that we 
passed through that existence, nor is the fact of not remem- 
bering a good objection. We forget the greater part of the 
occurrences of the years and days of this life, but no one 
would say for that reason we did not go through these years. 

Many persons do, however, remember that they have 
lived before. Poets have sung of this, children know it well, 
until the constant living in an atmosphere of unbelief drives 
the recollection from their minds for the present, but all are 
subject to the limitations imposed upon the Ego* by the new 
brain in each life. This is why we are not able to keep the 
pictures of the past, whether of this life or the preceding 
ones. The brain is the instrument for the memory of the soul, 
and, being new in each life with but a certain capacity, the 
Ego is only able to use it for the new life up to its capacity. 



424 BEST THOUGHTS 0E BEST THINKERS. 

That capacity will be fully availed of or the contrary, just 
according to the Ego's own desire and prior conduct, because 
such past living will have increased or diminished its power 
to overcome the forces of material existence. 

By living according to the dictates of the soul the brain 
may at last be made porous to the soul's recollections; if the 
contrary sort of a life is led, then more and more will clouds 
obscure that reminiscence. But as the brain had no part in 
the life last lived, it is in general unable to remember. And 
this is a wise law, for we should be very miserable if the deeds 
and scenes of our former lives were not hidden from our view 
until by discipline we become able to bear a knowledge of 
them. 

The appearance of geniuses and great minds in families 
destitute of these qualities, as well as the extinction from a 
family of the genius shown by some ancestor, can only be met 
by the law r of rebirth. Napoleon the First came in a family 
wholly unlike him in power and force. Nothing in his hered- 
ity will explain his character. He said himself, as told in 
the Memoirs of Prince Talleyrand, that he was Charlemagne. 
Only by assuming for him a long series of lives giving the 
right line of evolution or cause for his mind and nature and 
force to- be brought out, can we have the slightest idea why 
he or any other great genius appeared at all. Mozart when 
an infant could compose orchestral score. This was not due 
to heredity, for such a score is not natural, but is forced, 
mechanical, and wholly conventional, yet he understood it 
without schooling. How? Because he was a musician rein- 
carnated, with a musical brain furnished by his family and 
thus not impeded in his endeavors to show forth his musical 
knowledge. — William Q. Judge, Ocean of Theosophy. 



The "struggle for existence" applies to the physical, never to the 
moral plane of being. — H. P. Blavatsky. 

The world is my country, to do good my religion. — Thomas Paine. 

As the years roll on and human life unfolds, Christ, the friend of all 
humanity, should be revealed in a new and clearer light to those who 
have eyes to see and ears to hear. — Katherine Tingley. 



THEOSOPHY. 425 

Those of lis who think knowledge can be acquired without pursuing 
the path of love, mistake. The soul is aware of what it requires. It 
demands altruism, and so long as that is absent, so long will merely 
intellectual study lead to nothing. — W. Q. Judge. 

Let me say one thing I know ; only the feeling of true brotherhood, 
of true love towards humanity, aroused in the soul of some one strong 
enough to stem this {.ide, can carry us through. For love and trust are 
the only weapons that can overcome the real enemies against which the 
true lover of humanity must fight. If I, or you, go into this battle from 
pride, from self-will, from anything but the purest motive, we must fail. — 
W. Q. Judge. 

Men are beginning to realize that their divine forthright is no dream. 
The utterance of the statement brings with it a living power reviving the 
embers in the heart. We have but to take the first step in the true spirit 
of brotherliness, and all other steps will follow in natural sequence. We 
have to be warriors and fight the old fight unceasingly, but leagued with 
us in this ancient fight are all the hosts of light. Behind man, back of 
all things, broods the eternal spirit of Compassion. — Katherine Tingley. 

There is no individual who cannot become a center for the restora- 
tive forces of nature, no individual who cannot become a world of light in 
miniature in which the radiance of hope will go out into all other worlds 
which are, or may be, in the darkness of dread and despair. Let us 
believe in justice and the triumph of right. Let us be assured that the 
-oversoul of humanity is alive forevermore, that it has the keys of fate 
within its hands and that it will subdue all insurrection from below, 
imposing at the last its utmost perfect peace upon all turbulences and 
upon all violences. — New Century Path. 

The ultimate origin or beginning of man is not to be discovered, 
although we may know when and from where the men of this globe 
came. Man never was not. If not on this globe, then on some others, 
he ever was, and will ever be in existence somewhere in the Cosmos. 
Ever perfecting and reaching up to the image of the Heavenly Man, he 
is always becoming. — William Quan Judge. 

Unbrotherliness is the insanity of the age.— Katherine Tingley. 

To live to benefit mankind is the first step. 

Step out from Sunlight into Shade, to make more room for others. 

Learn that no efforts, not the smallest— whether in right or wrong 
direction — can vanish from the world of causes. 

If thou woulds't reap sweet peace and rest, Disciple, sow with the 
seeds of merit the fields of future harvests. 

Sow kindly acts and thou shalt reap their fruition. 

Guard thou the lower lest it soil the higher. 

Let thy Soul lend its ear to every cry of pain like as the Lotus bares 
its heart \o drink the morning sun. 

Have perseverance as one who doth for evermore endure. 

The way to final freedom is within thy Self. 

— Voice of the Silence. 



426 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF RIGHT-THINKING, 
By Rev. T. S. McWiixiams, D. D. 

This second discourse upon " The Springs of Character " 
brings us to consider Character and the Mind, or the import- 
ance of right thinking. Looking at the body we were filled 
with wonder, and I hope were led to worship the God who 
has so marvellously fashioned these material frames. But 
far more wonderful than the body is the mind of man. In- 
deed as Shakespeare says, " Tis the mind that makes the 
body rich." Think of the faculties of reason, of memory, of 
imagination. 

We wonder at the products of the looms, but what are 
those yards of silk or satin compared with the songs, the 
poems, the orations, the conversations — the countless fabrics, 
seme of them immortal, woven by the brain of man. 

The Bank of England has a mechanism that tests coins 
and throws out all light weights; but man's judgment is a 
mechanism by which things invisible such as arguments, 
motives and principles may be weighed and tested. 

Many and marvellous are the pictures in the world's 
great galleries, but more numerous and more marvellous are 
those that hang upon the walls of memory. Think of a 
faculty by which the scenes, the faces, the thoughts, the feel- 
ings, — all one's past may be made to march before the mind 
in solemn procession. 

More marvellous still to me is the faculty of imagination, 
by which things that never existed are called into being and 
made to pose as models or serve as patterns of things that 
man's hands may fashion. "Each thing was first a thought. 
A loom is Arkwright's thought dressed up in iron clothes. 
Books are the scholar's thoughts caught and fastened upon 



IMPORTANCE OF" RIGHT THINKING. 427 

the white page." All our commerce, as well as our conversa- 
tion and books, commenced with ideas. Our houses and 
ships and cities and institutions are man's inner thoughts 
taking on outer and material embodiment. When we think 
of an Agassiz dredging the Atlantic and telling us what forms 
of life were there a million years ago; when we think of a 
Tyndall reading off from the rocky page long-buried secrets 
of the past; of a Herschel stepping from star to star and 
exploring the heavenly world ; we are ready to exclaim with 
Shakespeare, " What a piece of work is man ! How noble 
in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form and moving 
how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! 
In apprehension how like a God! The beauty of a world! 
The paragon of animals ! " Referring to Herschel studying 
the stars, a philosopher said : " The greatest star is the one 
at the little end of the telescope. The one looking, not the 
one looked at or looked for." 

If our contemplation of the human body led us with the 
Psalmist to adore and worship the Creator, much more should 
our contemplation of the human mind. It was thinking of 
the human mind, and man's ability to make use of powers out- 
side himself that led the Psalmist to exclaim " O Lord, our 
Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth ! " Physical 
man compared with the physical universe, the moon and the 
stars which God had ordained, seemed utterly insignificant. 
He marvelled that God should take knowledge of him or visit 
him. His dominion over the works of God's hands is not due 
to physical superiority; the deer is more fleet, the lion more 
powerful. Physical man is one of the weaklings of God's 
creatures. But possessed of mind and the ability to make use 
of " powers not himself," he is lord of creation, but little 
lower than God. 

If the marvels of the body make it impossible for us to be 
atheists and compel us to praise # God because we are so 
wonderfully and fearfully made, much more should the mar- 
vels of the mind. If the fact that the body is a mechanism 
so complicated and important should make us attentive to its 
development, and careful against its injury, much more the 



423 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

mind. Surely a poet is more than a pugilist ; an astronomer 
than an athlete. Surely the question of what we shall eat or 
drink or wherewithal we shall be clothed is not so important 
as the question of food for the mind and enrichment of the 
inner man. 

That mind is one of the " Springs of Character " must 
be at once evident. The text teaches this. " As He Thinketh 
in His Heart So Is He." The Spanish proverbs expand the 
same idea : Thought is the seed from which character grows. 
Our thoughts determine our acts ; our acts groove the brain as 
some psychologists tell us, and oft repeated become second 
nature or habits; habits thus formed make character; and 
character determines destiny. " As he thinketh in his heart 
so is he." The thoughts that travel through the brain leave 
their tracks behind. We talk about things passing in at one 
ear and out at the other, as if we were not affected by them 
in the least; but we are. If the stream of thought be pure, 
it will to some extent purify the mind through which it passes ; 
if it be impure, it will leave a deposit behind that will event- 
ually harden into character. 

When you think of that do you wonder that we want 
to dam up the stream of impure literature that, fed by the rills 
from a thousand presses is flooding this fair land of ours? 
You cannot read the immoral book or listen to low conversa- 
tion without injury. The thoughts that travel through the 
brain leave their tracks behind. 

Notice the expression, — " In his heart." The Bible 
way of speaking of the heart may not be scientific, but it is 
very suggestive. The heart, by the Ancients, was regarded 
as the seat of the affections; while the head was the seat of 
the intellect. The " thoughts of the heart " therefore, meant 
the thoughts that are loved or cherished; the things that 
one wanted to think. This fact throws light upon an ex- 
pression like that in Psajm 14: 1, " The fool hath said in 
his heart, No God." That does not mean that all atheists are 
fools. It means that the one who wishes there were no God ; 
is unwilling to believe in God if he could, who says in his 
heart " No God," is a fool. As well might the flower wish 



IMPORTANCE OF RIGHT THINKING. 4 2 9 

that there was no sun in the heavens. The man who is like 
the flower whose sunshine is cut off; the man whose view of 
Cod is obscured by enveloping mists or intervening clouds 
is to be pitied more than blamed. But the Psalmist says the 
man who wishes God could be forever hidden from his view, 
is a fool. But the text goes beyond the teaching that the 
passing current of thought permanently affects the character. 
It does more than assert that the thoughts that travel through 
the brain leave their tracks behind. It teaches that the 
thoughts we welcome and cherish will shape our character. 
Men say it matters little what creed one subscribes to if 
one's life is all right. A creed merely subscribed to with the 
hand does make little difference; but the creed cherished in 
the heart will express itself in the life, for " As he thinketh 
in his heart so is he." Men become like the God in whom 
they believe. " They that worship them are like unto them." 
That is why the Bible lays such emphasis on faith. — Not that 
God cares so much what we think of Him, but what we think 
of Him will determine our attitude and conduct toward Him. 
It matters little what creeds hang like weavers' patterns upon 
the wall. But it matters immensely what creeds we put into 
the actual loom of life, for these determine the very warp and 
woof of character. 



BEST THOUGHTS ON CHARACTER AND REPUTATION. 

A man is what he is, not what men say he is. His character is what 
Tie is before God. That no man can touch ; only he himself can damage 
it. His reputation is what men say he is. That may be damaged. Repu- 
tation is for time ; character is for eternity. — John B. Goff. 

Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what 
God and angels know of us. — Paine. 

See that your character is right, and in the long run your reputation 
will be right. — Anon. 

One may be better than his reputation, but never better than his 
principles. — Latena. 

The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you 
desire to appear. — Socrates. 

A proper self-regard becomes improper as soon as we begin to value 
reputation more than real character. — Morning Star. 



43° BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

The noblest contribution which any man can make for the benefit of 
posterity, is that of a good character. The richest bequest which any 
man can leave to the youth of his native land, is that of a shining, spot- 
less example. — R. C. Winthrop. 

Only what we have wrought into our character during life can we 
take away with us. — Humboldt. 

Talents are best nurtured in solitude; character is best formed iii 
the 17 6 stormy billows of the world. — Goethe. 

Men best show their characters in trifles, when they are not on their 
guard. — Schopenhauer. 

Character and personal force are the only investments that are worth 
anything. — Whitman. 

A man's character is the reality of himself. His reputation is the 
opinion others have formed of him. 4 ? Character is in him; — reputation 
is from other people — that is the substance, this is the shadow. — Beecher. 

Whatever ignominy or disgrace we have incurred, it is almost always 
in our power to re-establish our reputation. — Rochefoucauld. 

The two most precious things on this side the grave are our repu- 
tation and our life. But it is to be lamented that the most contemptible 
whisper may deprive us of the one, and the weakest weapon of the other. 
A wise man, therefore, will be more anxious to deserve a fair name than 
to possess it, and this will teach him so to live, as not to be afraid to die. 
— Colton. 

The purest treasure mortal times afford 
Is spotless reputation; that away, 
161 Men are but gilded loam or painted clay. — Shakespeare. 

133 As the sun is best seen at his rising and setting,! 64 s0 men's 
native dispositions are clearest seen when they are children, and when 
they are dying. — Boyle. 

153 As there is much beast and some devil in man, so is there some 
angel and some God in him. The beast and the devil may be conquered, 
but in this life never destroyed. — Coleridge. 

Every man, as to character, is the creature of the age in which he 
lives. Very few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of their 
times. — Voltaire. 

161 A fair reputation is a plant delicate in its nature, and by no means 
rapid in its growth. It will not shoot up in a night, 153 like the gourd of 
the prophet, buti62 like that gourd, it may perish in a night. — Jeremy 
Taylor. 

153 Good will, likens a good name, is got by many actions, and lost 
by one. — H. W . Beecher. 

!06Reputation, reputation, reputation! Oh, I have lost my reputation \ 
I have lost the immortal part of myself; and what remains is bestial. 
— Shakespeare. 



LACONICS. 431 

Character is a diamond that scratches every other stone. — Bartol. 

Character is perfectly educated will. — Novalis. 

i53The reputation of a man is like his shadow, gigantic when it 
precedes him, and pigmy in its proportions when it follows.— Talleyrand. 

He who acts wickedly in private life, can never be expected to show 
himself noble in public conduct. He that is base at home will not acquit 
himself with honor abroad; for it is not the man, but only the place 
that is changed. — JEschines. 

iMAs they, who for every slight infirmity take physic to repair their 
health, do rather impair it ; so they, who for every trifle are eager to 
vindicate their character, do rather weaken it. — /. Mason. 

Characters do not change. Opinions alter, but characters are only 
developed. — Disraeli. 

Our character is but the stamp on our souls of the free choices of 
good and evil we have made through life. — Geike. 

Thoughts of virtue lead to virtuous action; acts of virtue ripen into 
virtuous habits; and the goodly and permanent result is, the formation 
or establishment of a virtuous character. — Chalmers. 

Every thought willingly contemplated, every word meaningly spoken, 
every action freely done consolidates itself in the character, and will 
project itself onward continually. — H. Giles. 

Who swerves from innocence, who makes divorce 

Of that 177 serene companion, a good name, 

Recovers not his loss ; but walks with shame, 
With doubt, with fear, and haply with remorse. — Wordsworth. 

The blaze of reputation cannot be blown out, but it often dies in the 
socket. — Johnson. 

In all the affairs of this world, so much reputation is, in reality, so 
much power. — Tillotson. 

My name and memory I leave to men's charitable speeches, to 
foreign nations and to the next age. — Bacon. 

There are two modes of establishing our reputation:^ 4 to be praised 
by honest men, and to be abused by rogues. It is best, however, to 
secure the former, because it will invariably be accompanied by the 
latter. — Colton. 

Reputation is sometimes as wide as the horizon, when character is 
but the point of a needle. Character is what one really is; reputation 
what others believe him to be. — H. W. Beecher. 

isiTruthfulness is the corner-stone in character, and if it be not 
firmly laid in youth, there will ever after be a*6i weak spot in the 
foundation. — /. Davis. 

I90lf you would create something, you must be something. — Goethe. 



43 2 BKST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

All the little vexations of life have their use as a part of our moral 
discipline. They afford the best trial of character. Many a man who 
could bow with resignation, if told that he was to die, is thrown off his 
guard and out of temper by the slightest opposition to his opinions or his 
projects. — Anonymous. 

153 Character is like stock in trade; the more of it a man possesses, 
the greater his facilities for making additions to it. Character is power — 
is influence ; it makes friends ; creates funds ; draws patronage and 
support; and opens a pure and easy way to wealth, honor and happi- 
ness. — Hawes. 

Experience serves to prove, that the worth and strength of a state 
depend far less upon the form of its institutions than upon the character 
of its men; for the nation is only the aggregate of individual conditions, 
and civilization itself is but a question of personal improvement. — Smiles. 

Wherever you find patience, fidelity, honor, kindness, truth, there 
you find respectability, however obscure and lcnely men may be. — Beecher. 

All that makes men true, pure and godly, goes with them everywhere. 
All that makes them false, impure, wicked, abides with them. Every 
man goes to his own place. — Golden Rule. 

A tree will not only lie as it falls, but it will fall as it leans. And 
the great question every one should bring home to himself is this :' "What 
is the inclination of my soul? Does it, with all its affections, lean 
toward God or away from him?" — /. /. Gurney. 

Character is built out of circumstances. From exactly the same 
materials one man builds palaces, while another builds hovels. — G. H. 
Lewes. 

The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world, is to 
be in reality what we would appear to be; all human virtues increase and 
.strengthen themselves by the practice and experience of them. — Socrates. 

The best part of human character is tenderness and delicacy of feel- 
ing in little matters, the desire to soothe and please othersi87 — minutiae 
of the social virtues. — Emerson. 

Nothing is so uncertain as general reputation. 238 A man injures 
me from humor, passion or interest; hates me because he has injured 
me; speaks ill of me because he hates me. — Home. 

He that tears away a man's good name, tears the flesh from his 
bones, and by letting him live, gives him only a cruel opportunity of 
feeling his misery, of burying his better part and surviving himself. — 
South. 

Reputation is an idle and most false imposition, oft got without merit, 
aod lost without deserving. — Shakespeare. 

Some men's reputation seems 153 like seed wheat, which thrives best 
when brought from a distance. — Whately. 

No man was ever written out of reputation but by himself. — Monk. 



laconics. 433 

A man's reputation is not in his own keeping, but lies at the mercy 
of the profligacy of others. Calumny requires no proof. — Hazlitt. 

Associate with men of good quality, if you esteem your own repu- 
tation ; it is better to be alone than in bad company. — Washington. 

A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world 
will always keep their eyes on the 1 ?? spot where the crack was. — 
Anonymous. 

Garments that have once -one rent in them are subject to be torn out 
on every nail, and glasses that are once cracked are soon broken. Such 
is man's good name when once tainted with reproach. — Bishop Hall. 

There are few persons of greater worth than their reputation ;19« 
but how many are there whose worth is far short of their reputation! — 
Stanislaus. 

Reputation is rarely proportioned to virtue. We have seen a thou- 
sand people esteemed, either for the merit they had not attained or for 
what they no longer possessed. — Bvremond. 

The character that needs law to mend it is hardly worth the* 77 
tinkering. — Jerrold. 

There is a broad distinction between character and reputation, for 
one may be destroyed by slander, while the other can never be harmed, 
save by its possessor. Reputation is in no man's keeping. You and I 
cannot determine what other men shall think and say about us. We can 
only determine what they ought to think of us and say about us. — /. G. 
Holland. 

He who tries to injure another, injures himself more. No man can 
be permanently injured, except by his own acts. — Hialmer D. Gould. 

Do what you know, and perception is converted into character. — 
Emerson. 

A man may be outwardly successful all his life long and die hollow 
and worthless as a puff-ball ; and he may be extremely defeated all his 
life long, and die in the royalty of a kingdom established within him. A 
man's true estate of power and riches, is to be in himself; not in his 
dwelling or position, or external relations, but in his own essential 
character. — Henry Ward Beecher. 

Character must stand behind and back up everything. — the sermon, 
the poem, the picture, the play. None of them is worth a straw without 
it.—/. G. Holland. 

To judge human character rightly a man may sometimes have 184 
very small experience provided he has a very large heart. — Bulwer. 

Make but few explanations. The character that cannot defend itself 
is not worth vindicating. — F. W . Robertson. 

No more fatal error can be cherished than that any character can be 
complete without the religious element. The essential factors in char- 
acter building are religion, morality, and knowledge. — /. L. Pickard. 



434 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Character is higher than intellect. — Emerson. 

Should one tell you that a mountain had changed its place, you are 
at liberty to doubt it ; but if any one tells you that a man has changed 
his character, do not believe it. — Mahomet. 

Nothing can work me damage, except myself. The harm that I 
sustain, I carry about me, and am never a real sufferer but by my own 
fault. — St. Bernard. 

When a man has once forfeited the reputation of his integrity, he 
is set fast; nothing will then serve his turn, neither truth nor false- 
hood. — Tillotson. 

The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, as in 
what direction we are moving. — Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

Never does a man portray his own character more vividly than in 
hi? manner of portraying another. — Richter. 

To be worth anything, character must be capable of 17 6 standing 
firm upon its own feet in the world of daily work, temptation and trial ; 
and able to bear the wear and tear of actual life. Cloistered virtues do 
not count for much. — S. Smiles. 

i9°If I do take care of my character, my reputation will take care 
of itself. — D. L. Moody. 

O ! reputation,!^ 6 dearer far than life, thou precious balsam, lovely, 
sweet of smell, whose cordial drops once spilt by some rash hand, not all 
thy owner's care, nor the repenting toil of the rude spiller, ever can 
collect to its first purity and native sweetness. — Sir Walter Raleigh. 

Good character is human nature in its best form. It is moral order 
embodied in the individual. Men of character are not only the 161 con- 
science of society, but in every well governed state they are its best 
motive power, for it is moral qualities which, in the main, rule the 
world. — S. Smiles. 

You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must* 77 hammer 
and forge one for yourself. — Froude. 

The best tendencies are made by vigorous and persistent resistance 
to evil tendencies ; whose amiability has been built upon the ruins of ill- 
temper, and whose generosity springs from an over-mastered and trans- 
formed selfishness. Such a character, built up in the presence of enemies 
has far more attraction than one which is natively pleasing. — Dexter. 

184 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and 184 
loving favor rather than silver and gold. — Solomon. 

As there is nothing in the world great but man, there is nothing truly 
great in man but character. — W . M. Evarts. 

You may esteem it great to be a leader in one phase of life or an- 
other ; to be rich or to be learned ; to advocate a certain cause, to cham- 
pion a new philosophy, or to promulgate a particular faith, but remem- 
ber, 86 it is greatest to be a man. — Hialmer D. Gould. 



HAVE ANIMALS SOULS? 435 



HAVE THE ANIMALS SOULS. 

For that which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth beasts; even one 
thing befalleth them ; as the one dieth, so dieth the other ; yea, they have 
all one breath; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast: for 
all is vanity. 

Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit 
of the beast that goeth downward to the earth? — Ecclesiastes, iii, 19-21. 

The surface of the earth, the air as high as we can study 
it, the depths of the sea, swarm with animal life. 

The earth rolls around the sun, bathed in its warm light. 
Tens of millions of creatures die with every revolution of the 
little planet which is their home. And man " going to and 
fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it " rules the 
little animals and the big ones and calls himself sole heir of 
immortality. He says : " For me this earth was made and 
balanced in its wonderful journey; for me alone the marvels 
of future life are reserved.' , 

He digs up the strange creatures from the slimy depths 
of the ocean, studies and labels them. He dissects one 
animal to study his own diseases. He skins another to 
cover his feet with leather. He eats one ox and hitches 
its brother to the plough. He uses nature's explosive 
forces to bring down the bird on the wing. He sweeps the 
rivers with his nets. 

The stomach of the well fed man is the graveyard of 
the animal kingdom. When his dinner is finished, the man 
well fed strokes his stomach contentedly and says to himself : 
"All is well. For I have a soul and they have none. They 
nave died to feed me. I am happy and they should be 
satisfied." 

What is the nature of the spirit that directs our humble 
animal brothers and sisters? They cover the earth so long 
as we let them, give place to us as the human race increases 



436 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

and without any thought of organized resistance, die, that we 
may live. Have these animals souls ? 

From many points of view that question may be studied. 
In this column and on this day let it be studied in the light of 
Christianity's teachings. Wasting no time in discussion of 
the nature of the soul, let us study the teachings of exact 
orthodoxy. 

"I know all the fowls of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the 
field are mine." — Psalms, i, 11. 

There distinctly is the statement that the animals are 
under God's care, as we are. He who slays one of the fowls 
cf the mountains, or one of the wild beasts of the field, de- 
stroys a life that is individually known to God. 

"That which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth beasts." 

Does not this intimate that the soul force that exists in 
animals is preserved as is the imperishable spark in man? 

"Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit 
of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" 

Here is the distinct statement that in man and beast a 
spirit exists. 

May we properly believe in the light of this text that 
man's spirit, having reached its limit, leaves the earth at 
death, whereas the spirit of the beast, still imperfect and 
doomed to further earthly experience, " goeth downward to 
the earth " to reappear here again in higher form? 

Can we not see throughout the Bible personal, divine in- 
terest in everything that lives? Is it not just to conclude 
that life in itself indicates the existence of spirit, and hence 
cf divine care and guidance? 

"Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them 
is forgotten before God." — Luke, xii, 6. 

You have seen the bird grieving over the destruction of 
its nest. You have studied the pathetic eyes of the lost dog, 
and the sad submission of the tired beaten horse. Is there not 
soul in those stricken creatures, and spiritual feeling deeper 
than that displayed by many men? In that immortality for 



HAVE ANIMALS SOULS? 437 

which men long, what part have the animals? Is there hope 
for them? 

"And the four-and-twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and 
worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying Amen ; Alleluia." — Reve- 
lation, xix, 4. 

Clergymen recently have discussed the existence of soul 
life in animals. Such discussion is recommended to our 
readers. First came all animal life, as we know it, and then 
came man. Science and religion agree on this point, at least. 

All owe their being to the same eternal force. On this 
point again religion and science agree. Is the life in animals 
merely a passing dream, or does it express in its humble way 
the promise o/f life eternal? 

In Italy a scientific villain experimented on a dog to 
ascertain the power of maternal affection. The dog was 
most cruelly tortured. Its new-born puppy was beside it. Its 
nerves were wracked, its spine tortured, but whenever permit- 
ted to do so 1 , the poor tortured animal mother turned its head 
toward its whining child and licked it affectionately. Until 
it died there was nothing that could overcome maternal love 
in the heart of that poor dumb mother. 

Is there not some soul in such love as that? 

We believe that there is. What do you think? 

. — Cleveland Press. 



43§ BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND RELIGION. 

As a result of the many attacks that have recently been 
made upon the American public-school system by prominent 
religious teachers, the whole subject of religious education 
is just now attracting unusual attention. The sentiments of 
Bishop McFaul, of Trenton, N. J., expressed in St. Patrick's 
Cathedral, New York, on the occasion of the consecration of 
the new bishop of Buffalo, have been widely quoted : 

"The public schools, at the present constituted, are detri- 
mental to church and state. Eminent non-Catholic educators 
are gradually perceiving that ' intellectual cultivation has no 
effect in arresting the sources of evil in the human heart; 
that it alters the direction o<f crime, but not its amount.' 
Teaching religion in the church and the home is not sufficient ; 
the absence of such teaching in the school is rapidly leading 
youth into indifference and thus dechristianizing America." 

In even more emphatic language, Cardinal Gibbons stated 
his views, a few days ago, to a correspondent of the Newark 
(N. J.) News: 

" The system of public education in this country is im- 
perfect and vicious, and undermines the religion of our youth. 
We want our children to receive an education that will not 
only make them learned but pious men and women. 

" We want them to be not only polished members of 
society, but also conscientious Christians. We desire for them 
a training that will form their hearts as well as their minds. 
We wish them to be not only men of the world, but, above 
all, men of God. 

"The religious and secular education of our children can 
not be divorced from each other without inflicting a fatal 
wound upon the soul. The usual consequence of such a 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND REUGION. 439 

separation is to paralyze the moral faculty and to foment a 
spirit of indifference in matters of faith. 

" Education is to the soul what food is to the body. The 
milk with which the infant is nourished at its mother's breast, 
not only feeds its head, but permeates at the same time its 
heart and other organs of the body. In like manner, the 
intellectual and moral growth of our children should go hand- 
in-hand; otherwise their education is shallow and fragment- 
ary, and often proves a curse instead of a blessing. * * * 

" I am not unmindful of the blessed influence of a home 
education, and especially of a mother's tutelage. But of what 
avail is a mother's toil if the seeds of faith which she has 
planted attain a sickly growth in the cheerless atmosphere of 
a schoolroom from which the sun of religion is rigidly ex- 
cluded ? 

" The remedy for these defects would be supplied if the 
denominational system which now obtains in Canada were 
applied in our public schools." 

The New York Sun, which has been devoting a consider- 
able amount of space to this subject for several months past, 
prints in a recent issue a striking letter from the Rev. 
W. Montague Geer, Vicar of St. Paul's Chapel, New York. 
Mr. Geer's position is practically that of the Roman Catholic 
dignitaries quoted above. He says, in part : 

" Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Hebrews have 
struck a compromise by which God and Christ — yes, and 
with them pagan ethics at their best — are eliminated from 
the education of the child life of the nation. What is the 
result? Why, surely, the virtual enthronement of forces that 
disbelieve in God and Christ and are antagonistic to them. 
How can those who know what Christianity is and what the 
nature and needs of children are believe otherwise? There 
can be no education in these days without religion, or its 
negation or opposite. What an atmosphere to bring up our 
children in ! Small wonder that atheists and agnostics love to 
have it so, because in a most pitiful sense of the word the 
lamb is inside the lion. * * * 



44° BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

" What, then, is the right, the duty, and the policy of 
the state in this vitally important matter? The situation calls 
loudly for an answer, which is easily given, hard, indeed, tho 
it be to put it into practice. The state, for its own protection, 
is to see that the children are educated, and only to take action 
where it is necessary to do so, by providing the simplest, most 
elementary kind of an education for those children who would 
otherwise be neglected. If private enterprise carries education 
further than this, it will be on so small a scale, comparatively, 
that no serious harm is likely to be done. 

" In this Way an open field and no favor would be given 
to every religious body to provide proper education for its 
own children or take the consequences of its neglect of duty. 
Private schools, large and small, differing widely in dogmatic 
teaching, but identical in ethics and patriotism, would 
again spring up and multiply all over the land, and education 
would again be on a proper and safe basis. The children, or 
most of them, would be Christianized as well as Americanized. 
Pagans might be instructed in pagan ethics; Jews would 
be instructed in Jewish ethics; Protestants and Roman 
Catholics in Christian ethics. Every religious body would 
provide for the education of its own children; and the ex- 
ceptions to this salutary rule would see their children state 
educated and made thereby the easy prey of some stronger 
form of religion, or the victim of agnosticism, indifferentism, 
or atheism and consequently immorality." 

Mr. Geer's letter has evoked what The Sun terms a truly 
" amazing " amount of correspondence. One of the ablest 
replies is that of Dr. Isidor Singer, the editor of the new 
Jewish Encyclopedia. We quote from his letter: 

" Does Mr. Geer know that men of science simply smile 
at the pretension of our theologians to teach ' religion ' in the 
schoolroom as geography, arithmetic, and zoology are taught? 
* * * He certainly knows from his study of the history of 
philosophy that mankind has not yet produced the genius who 
could lift the veil from the mystery of life, grant us a glimpse 
into the beyond. Neither Moses nor Plato, neither Confucius 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND RELIGION. 44I 

nor St. Paul, neither Baruch Spinoza nor Herbert Spencer 
has succeeded in building up a philosophic system offering a 
satisfactory answer to the three riddles of man's existence : 
Whence, whither, why? 

"You can teach 'theology/ i. e., the history of the 
religious evolution of a certain section of mankind during 
a given period or, in a wider sense, the general history of 
religion ; but you can't teach religion itself. Are our Catholic 
priests, Protestant pastors, and Jewish rabbis being trained 
for their vocation in schools of religion? No; their special 
colleges are justly called ' Theological Seminaries,' whose cur- 
ricula contain dogmatics, church history, canonical law, Bible 
exegesis, Hebrew), and Syriac. I was unable to find, through- 
out the 1,332 pages of Minerz^, the year-book of the universi- 
ties and colleges of the entire civilized world, one single 
course of lectures on religion itself. Since our American chil- 
dren, native or foreign-born, are not trained in our public 
schools for the theological metier, the less we tell them of the 
contradictions between our numberless philosophic and theo- 
logical systems, and of the millions of victims of religious 
intolerance in past and present, the better for the children now 
and the welfare of the American republic in the future. 

" He who dares, with a rough hand, to disturb the sanc- 
tuary of the public school, where millions of children, without 
distinction of race or nationality, indiscriminately of social 
standing or the fortuitous church associations of their parents, 
are not only prepared for their individual lifework, but are 
welded together into the great American commonwealth, 
destined to lead on humanity to the heights of civilization — 
such a man is guilty of national lese majeste. Ye scholarly 
rabbis, priests, and persons whose brains are filled with con- 
fused notions about angelology, transubslantiation, redemp- 
tion, the decision of rabbinical conferences, church councils 
and church synods, leave the little ones, whose intimate soul- 
life most of you are unable to fathom, to the modern priests 
and priestesses of popular science — the school-teachers. 

" These modest men and women not only impart useful 
knowledge to our children, but educate them also in the noblest 



442 BEST THOUGHTS OE BEST THINKERS. 

sense of the word. You with your diluted moral philosophy 
confuse only the minds and disturb the hearts of these inno- 
cent boys and girls, who do not care a farthing's worth for 
our stupid, yea, criminal confessional divisions, which ta 
eliminate from their and our own life should be, in this great 
and free republic of ours, the highest ambition of statesman, 
educator, philanthropist, and communal worker. For the 
teacher of our public schools there are no Catholics, no Bap- 
tists, no Episcopalians, no> Jews, but God-given souls im- 
planted in human bodies which they try to prepare for their 
high destinies." — Literary Digest. 

o 

THE NAME OF GOD. 

The following list, comprising the name of God in forty-eight lan- 
guages, was compiled by the French philologist, Louis Berger. 

As he was walking along the streets of Paris, he heard a voice 
beseeching him to buy some nuts. Upon looking back he discovered it 
was the voice of his old barber, gaining a scanty living by selling nuts. 

To aid him, M. Berger hastily made out this list, by the sale of which 
the old barber was enabled to make as good a living, or better, than. 
M. Berger himself. 

Hebrew — Elohim, Eloah. Olalu Tongue — Deu. 

Chaldaic — Eilah. German and Swiss — Gott. 

Assyrian — Eleah. Flemish — Goed. 

Syriac and Turkish — Alah. Dutch — Godt. 

Malay — Alia. English and Old Saxon — God. 

Arabic — Allah. Teutonic — Goth. 

Language of the Magi — Orsi. Danish and Swedish — Gut. 

Old Egyptian — Teut. Norwegian — Gud. 

Armorian — Teuti. Slave — Buch. 

Modem Egyptian — Teun. Polish — Bog. 

Greek — Theos. Polacca — Bung. 

Cretan — Thios. Lapp — Jubinal. 

Aeolian and Doric — Ilos. Finnish — Jumala. 

Latin — Deus. Runic — As. 

Low Latin — Diex. Zemblain — Fetizo. 

Celtic and Gallic — Diu. Pannonian — Istu. 

French — Dieu. Hindostanee — Rain. 

Spanish — Dios. Coromandel — Brama. 

Portuguese — Deos Tartar — Magatal. 

Old German — Diet. Persian — Sire. 

Provencal — Diou. Chinese — Prussa. 

Low Breton — Doue. Japanese — Goezur. 

Italian — Dio. Madagascar. — Zannar. 

Irish — Dia. Peruvian — Pachacamac. 



LAW and GOVERNMENT, 

WITH REMINISCENCES. 



LAW AND LAWYERS. 445 



LAW AND LAWYERS. 

Blackstone says, "Law is the embodiment of the moral 
sense of the people." Gladstone says, "Good laws make it 
easier to do right and harder to do wrong." By referring law 
to the moral sense of the people, we imply that law, correctly 
administered, is just. "Be just and fear not," (Shakespeare), 
means that, except by perversion of law, he who is just hath 
no cause to fear. Massinger states it, 

* * * * "The good need fear no law, 
It is his safety, and the bad man's awe." 

The connection of law with justice is also implied in Hill's 
expression, "Law that shocks equity is reason's murder" ; and 
Coke writes, "Reason is the life of law ; nay, the common law 
itself is nothing else but reason." 

Passing from expressions of law in which justice is im- 
plied to those in which justice is expressed, we quote from 
Rufus Choate, "The absolute justice of the state enlightened 
by the perfect reason of the state, that is law." Socrates 
said, "What is in conformity with justice should also be in 
conformity with law." That justice precedes and is the foun- 
dation of law, although itself an independent principle, is set 
forth in these words by Voltaire, "The sentiment o*f justice is 
so natural, and so universally acquired by all mankind, that 
it seems to be independent of all law, all party, all religion." 
That it is natural to right-minded people, is indicated by Rousr- 
seau's remark, "An honest man nearly always thinks justly." 

But despite these best thoughts of best thinkers on what 
law ought to be, there is much on record in confirmation of 
the trite saying heard almost daily about every court-house, 
"Law is one thing and justice quite another." If this expres- 
sion could be modified to say, Law is one thing but its admin- 



44-6 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

istration quite another — it would be nearer the truth ; and that 
is probably what is meant, but inaccurately stated. 31 . The 
meaning is — law is one thing, but to obtain justice by resort- 
ing to law is quite another. 

That justice, although the essence of law, is yet an inde- 
pendent concept, with much to- consider aside from its expres- 
sion in the form of law, we may cite the following from Daniel 
Webster : 

"Justice is the great interest of man on earth. It is 
the ligament which holds civilized beings and civilized nations 
together. Wherever her temple stands, and so long as it is 
duly honored, there is a foundation for social security, general 
happiness, and the improvement and progress of our race. 
And whoever labors on this edifice with usefulness and dis- 
tinction, whoever clears its foundations, strengthens its pillars, 
adorns its entablatures, or contributes to raise its august dome 
still higher in the skies, connects himself, in name, and fame, 
and character, with that which is and must be as durable as 
the frame of human society." 

Also- Blair, "He who goes no further than bare justice, 
stops at the beginning of virtue." And others : 

"Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the 
complaints of those who obey." — Diderot. 

"God gives manhood but one clue to success, utter and exact Justice; 
that, He guarantees, shall be always expediency." — Wendell Phillips. 

"Justice is the idea of God; the ideal of men; the rule of conduct 
writ in the nature of mankind." — Theodore Parker. 

"No obligation to justice does force a man to be cruel, or to use the 
sharpest sentence. A just man does justice to every man and to every- 
thing; and then, if he be also wise, he knows there is a debt of mercy 
and compassion due to the infirmities of man's nature; and that is to be 
paid; and he that is cruel and ungentle to a sinning person, and does 
the worst to him, is in his debt, and is unjust." — Jeremy Taylor. 

"Use every man after his desert and who should escape whipping?" 
— Shakespeare. 

"Justice delayed is justice denied." — Gladstone. 

"Strike if you will, but hear me." — Thcmistocles. 

"How can a people be free that has not learned to be just?" — Sieyes. 

"Justice is to give every man his own." — Aristotle. 



LAW AND LAWYERS. « 447 

"He who is only just is cruel. — Who on earth could live were all 
judged justly?" — Byron. 

"Justice is the bread of the nation ;161 it is always hungry for it.'* 
— Chateaubriand. 

"Justice shines*™ in smoky cottages and honors the pious. Leaving 
with averted eyes the gorgeous glare obtained by polluted hands, she is 
wont to draw nigh to holiness, not reverencing wealth when falsely 
stamped with praise, and assigning to each deed its righteous doom." — 
Aischylus. 

But after wise legislators have incorporated the full meas- 
ure of justice into the laws they have enacted, we are con- 
fronted with conditions of society which make it often difficult, 
and sometimes impossible, to obtain justice through the admin- 
istration of the law. The responsibility assumed by the judicial 
and executive branches of a government is well-nigh appalling. 
Pascal says, "Justice and power must be brought together, so 
that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is power- 
ful may be just," and Joubert, "Justice without strength, or 
strength without justice — fearful misfortunes!" In this we 
find the responsibility also reversed, for not only is it requisite 
that all justice be enforced by strength, but that all strength 
be used justly. 499 The relation of power to justice has engaged 
the best thought of statesmen, moralists, and philosophers 
alike, regardless of nationality or the age in which they lived. 
Hear Tacitus, "Power acquired by guilt has seldom been 
applied to any good end or useful purpose," and Pascal, "Jus- 
tice without power is inefficient. Power without justice is 
tyranny. Justice without power is opposed, because there are 
always wicked men. Power without justice is soon ques- 
tioned." And then, as above, "Justice and power must there- 
fore be brought together, so that whatever is just may be 
powerful and whatever is powerful may be just." 

Demosthenes says, "It is not possible to found a lasting 
power upon injustice, perjury, or treachery," and in this con- 
nection, we may also quote again, Napoleon, "Even in war, 
moral power is to physical as three parts out of four." So, 
Emerson, "Where is the source of power? The soul of God 
is poured into the world through the thoughts of men. The 



448 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

world stands on ideas, not on iron or cotton ; and the iron of 
iron, the fire of fire, the ether and source of all the elements 
is moral force." 

All these point to the inweaving of the eternal principle 
of justice into both the woof and warp 176 of the mental con- 
sitution of man. No phase of mental activity can be exercised 
normally, without due regard to justice as the expression of 
relations between cause and effect. Even the cold, hard facts 
of mathematical science, supposed to be entirely removed from 
the realm of conscience, are constantly presenting themselves 
irf the form of equations, and what is an equation but a formal 
statement of justice? Equity is another verbal sign of the 
same idea, and a Court of Equity is only a court that decides 
according to natural ideas of justice, without reference to any 
particular law, or to whether there is any law to fit that par- 
ticular case. 

John Foster says, "Power, to its last particle, is duty," 
and Burke, "I know of nothing sublime which is not some 
modification of power." Here we are shown the relation of 
power to duty and sublimity respectively, but can you divorce 
justice from either duty or sublimity? 192 , 195 Substituting for 
power its synonym, authority, we see clearly the force of 
Shakespeare's exclamation, "Man, proud man! dressed in a 
little brief authority, plays such fantastic tricks before high 
heaven as make the angels weep!" Who can fail to read 
between these burning lines the crimson story of unjust wars, 
unrighteous deeds of princes and potentates, unhallowed revel- 
ries of unjust rulers, and the whole multitude of forms in 
which injustice has been manifested in high places? How 
true it is, "Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thou- 
sands mourn." 

If, then, law is based on the idea of justice, and justice, 
as the foundation of morality, is the lodestar of conscience, is 
not the forum the counterpart of the pulpit, the bar the brother 
of the altar, the lawyer the complement of the priest? To 
place the advocate of justice and the exponent of religion on 
the same pedestal is neither exalting the one nor degrading 
the other. The thoughtless throng, in a mere spirit of badin- 



LAW AND LAWYERS. 449 

age, may call the lawyer a liar, the physician a murderer, the 
clergyman a hypocrite ; but when brought to the verge of dis- 
solution, the physician is summoned to cure the ills of life, the 
preacher to scare*away the terrors of death, and the lawyer to 
rescue the estate. The minister is relied upon to point the way 
to virtue, but to the lawyer is assigned the equally arduous 
and responsible task of defending the innocent against the 
accusation of crime; while to defend the guilty until convicted 
is none the less necessary for the impartial administration of 
justice. 

We now submit a few articles, essays, quotations, and 
other items more or less formal, concerning law and govern- 
ment, including also certain reminiscences which reflect both 
the crude and the more refined ideas of the past, on the varying 
relations of liberty and justice to law. 



450 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



THE JUVENILE COURT. 
By Katharine Kinsey Brooks. 

A sculptor can take a lump of clay in his hands and mold 
it into a demon or a god — providing the clay is: plastic. If 
it has been allowed to harden it will remain a dry lump of 
clay, certainly not ornamental, seemingly useless. 

The laws of Nature are very few and very simple. A rule 
that holds good in one kingdom holds good throughout all 
Nature. A fundamental principle is broad enough to cover 
all conditions. It remains for the student of any particular 
phase of nature to discover the general principle that covers 
the case in question and apply it. The result will be certain. 
Throughout the ages the crime problem has puzzled mankind. 
One remedy after another has been applied, to no effect. To 
say the most, crime was only arrested; often even this result 
could not be brought about, and it would seem that where one 
head was lopped off a thousand would grow. Then .the Juve- 
nile Court idea was born, and today it promises a solution of 
this centuries-old problem. At last the fact has been recog- 
nized that if crime is to be stamped out the work must begin 
in the home, and among the children; that if a child is to be 
saved it must be taken in hand early and placed where the very 
best that is in it will have a chance to develop, and where the 
undesirable qualities will be starved out for want of oppor- 
tunity to assert themselves. 

The Juvenile Court has been a surprise to* those who 
worked most enthusiastically to establish it. It has been much 
as if a wanderer had seen something glisten in the sand at his 
feet, and picked it up, thinking it was a pretty glass bauble, 
to find on turning it over in his hand that he had discovered a 
priceless diamond. Those earnest thinkers who bore the brunt 



THE JUVENILE COURT. 45 1 

of the battle for the establishment of the Juvenile Court did 
not at first realize its possibilities. Their highest hopes have 
been more than realized. They find in their hands a key that 
will eventually unlock the door of mysteries. 

The children's court is a child of Illinois, conceived at 
Chicago and born at Springfield, becoming effective July 1, 
1899. The many societies and agencies dealing with children 
— mostly dependent, for they had no way of dealing with delin- 
quents — found themselves hampered at every turn when they 
attempted to secure control of children in cases where common 
humanity demanded the little ones should be taken away from 
their evil environment and placed where they would have 
proper care and education. Often the children, through beg- 
ging and petty thievery, were the sole support of shiftless, 
worthless parents, and it is not to be marveled at that their 
natural guardians objected when there was a prospect of their 
source of profit being taken away from them. 

The law has ever been solicitous in regard to the manage- 
ment and control of any property which a child might inherit. 
No matter how insignificantly small the estate might be, the 
law took cognizance of it, and saw that it was administered to 
the best interests of the child. Unless the child possessed an 
estate, its person was not taken cognizance ot by the law. 
Illinois, in passing the juvenile court law, took charge of the 
interests of the child in their entirety and built up a complete 
system to regulate the work. 

As has already been stated, the child saving agencies, up 
to the time the juvenile court law was passed, had found them- 
selves hampered to an extent that rendered them almost inef- 
fective. What little work they were able to accomplish was 
illegal. As far back as 1888- 1889 the officers of the Visitation 
and Aid Society drafted a law legalizing the work. This 
bill was introduced in the Illinois Legislature and passed 
to second reading but failed to become* a law. At that 
time the law took absolutely no cognizance of any kind 
of a delinquent child under ten years of age. When a 
child reached the age of ten years, if it committed a 
depredation of any sort that could be construed as an 



45 2 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

overt act against the laws of the State, it could be arrested 
and thrown into prison along with the most hardened 
criminals. Here the little ones, many of whom did not 
realize they had done wrong, conscious only of the fact that 
they were being punished, learned their first lesson in crime. 
The seeds that were planted in their first experience ripened 
rapidly and bore fruit as soon as they were released. The chil- 
dren under ten years of age ran about the streets like little 
wild animals, seeking what they might destroy, living their 
disorderly little lives unmolested because the officers of child 
saving societies had no law whereby they could get hold of the 
juvenile wrongdoers and check the stream of evil while it was 
weak, before it had developed into a raging torrent of degen- 
eracy which would be beyond human control. 

Hon. Harvey B. Hurd, Illinois' veteran jurist, solved the 
problem. After studying over the matter for years it occurred 
to him that there was a remedy from the standpoint that the 
state occupies what in common law is known as "parens 
patriae" ; that is to say, that it is the duty of the State to act 
in the capacity of parent or superior parent in the matter, and 
that this could be effected through the chancellors, who emi- 
nently are the stewards of the State. The Woman's Club of 
Chicago became interested in the matter. The agitation was 
kept up by Mrs. Lucy L. Flower, and the desired legislation 
was finally secured. It was realized by all who studied the 
matter that it was necessary to confide the care and custody of 
the person of the child to a court of original, inherent and 
unlimited jurisdiction, in order that the court should have 
sufficient power to deal with any difficulty that might arise 
from the time the child was brought into court up to the time 
it was discharged. The Circuit Court was chosen as the one 
that should administer the Juvenile Court law. The funda- 
mental idea lying at the base of the Juvenile Court law is the 
separation of children of tender years from the criminal class. 

July i, 1899, tne Cook County, Illinois Juvenile Court 
was opened at Chicago with Hon. Richard S. Tuthill on the 
bench. Requests poured in from all sides for copies of the law. 



THE JUVENILE COURT. 453 

Philanthropists in, other States had for long time realized that 
the fact that children were being permitted to grow up sur- 
rounded by seasoned vice and crime was the moth that was 
gnawing the fabric of human society until it was becoming 
tattered. After the Cook County Juvenile Court proved to be 
so eminently a success, the legislatures of other States were 
easily persuaded to enact similar laws. At the present writing, 
April 28, 1904, as the result of juvenile court legislation the 
following states are better equipped than ever before for child 
saving work : New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Mary- 
land, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Cali- 
fornia, Minnesota, Ohio>, Massachusetts, Louisiana and Wash- 
ington, D. C. A Juvenile Court law was enacted by the Iowa 
Legislature, but was declared unconstitutional. The move- 
ment has therefore received a temporary set-back in that State. 
London, England, child saving societies took up the idea and 
secured legislation to help them in their work. Ontario, Can- 
ada, has passed juvenile court laws, and it is intended by the 
Japanese government to equip that country with an effective 
child saving system founded upon the ideas in operation in 
the United States. 

The Colorado law is perhaps the most far-reaching of 
any that have been enacted. It deals with the case not only 
from the standpoint of the child, but takes into consideration 
as well the forces that caused the delinquency of the child. 
For instance, should a child be found delinquent by the Colo- 
rado courts, the court at once inquires into the cause of the 
delinquency. The parent may be brought into court under a 
separate charge and punished for causing the delinquency of 
the child. The saloonkeeper who sold liquor to the parent, 
thus aiding in causing the delinquency, may also be brought 
into court on a separate charge. The latter two charges are 
under separate and distinct laws, in no- way connected with 
the hearing of the child's case. 

The keynote of the harmony of the operation of the 
Juvenile Court is the probation system. This is the cord upon 
which all the pearls are strung — the keystone of the arch that 



454 B £ST THOUGHTS 0£ BEST THINKERS. 

forms the bridge from delinquency to noble manhood and 
womanhood. Without the probation system the magistrate 
would have three courses open to him, if a delinquent be found 
guilty. He could dismiss the child with a rebuke; he could 
fine the parents; or he might commit the child to an institu- 
tion. Enough institutions do not exist to care for all the chil- 
dren placed under the guardianship of the Juvenile Court. The 
probation system permits the judge to place the child on pn> 
bation. The subsequent report of the probation officer deter- 
mines whether or not the child shall be taken away from its 
home. The taxpayers are relieved, by the probation system, 
from the necessity of maintaining delinquents, who* are thus 
maintained at the expense of their parents. 

Aside from the value of the probation system as a money 
saving institution, its value is inestimable from an ethical 
standpoint. The probation officer becomes practically a mem- 
ber of the family. It is his privilege and duty to instill in the 
minds of the entire family ideas of truth, honesty, integrity, 
decency and cleanliness. He becomes the teacher of the par- 
ents as well as the guardian of the child, and attempts to so 
educate them that in time they may become capable of again 
assuming the guardianship of their own children, a right which 
the State has been forced to take away from them temporarily 
because of their incapacity, through ignorance, to faithfully 
perform their duty in that respect. The probation officer has 
it in his power to eventually raise the entire family to a higher 
plane. One child in whom has been awakened a desire to walk 
in the paths of rectitude has an influence for good upon the 
whole family. One family so uplifted possesses an influence 
for good over the entire community. Without the probation 
system this influence would be practically impossible. 

The child saving agencies expected to be assisted in their 
work by the Juvenile Court law. Much to their surprise they 
found in their hands a weapon which, if properly used, will 
cut away the deadly upas tree of crime at its very roots. As 
they analyzed deeper they became conscious of the fact that 
crime, to a great extent, is due to lack of proper guidance at 



THE JUVENILE COURT. 455 

the formative period of the child's life. As the sculptor who 
would make a model must work while the clay is soft and plas- 
tic, so the child must be taken in hand before it has been hard- 
ened by circumstances and environment. If this is done it 
will be possible to save him in almost every instance. Depend- 
ency today grows into truancy tomorrow and delinquency the 
next day just as certainly as the sun will rise in the east and 
set in the west. By taking the child early in its dependency 
and placing it in a good home where it will receive the benefits 
of the education God means every human being shall have, 
that child will be saved from the aftermath of truancy and 
delinquency. In ninety-nine cases out of one hundred the 
delinquency of a child can be traced directly to improper home 
surroundings. What can you expect of a child, boy or girl, 
who, from the time it is able to walk, is sent to the saloon for 
the bucket of beer which is considered indispensable to the 
happiness and well-being of the parents ? What can you expect 
of the little Italian children that are sent out to dance and beg 
pennies from dawn to midnight? Place these children in 
proper environments and the possibilities of their future have 
no limits. Leave them where they are and the result can be 
presaged with certainty — the jail — the brothel. 

Positive proof has been furnished that it is cheaper to 
save a child than to punish a criminal. According to Jailer 
Whitman, an average of 575 boys under sixteen years of age 
were committed to the Cook County jail each year previous to 
the enactment of the Illinois Juvenile Court law. These boys 
were arrested on criminal charges, tried as criminals, and if 
convicted were sentenced to serve time in penal institutions 
under the same laws that governed the cases against adults. 
When this statement was made the Cook County Juvenile 
Court had been in operation about a year and a half. Up to 
that time, not over twenty boys had been sent to jail, and they 
were boys who, early in life, had started on a career of crime, 
and whose cases were such as to justify the court in inflicting 
more permanent reformatory measures. July 1, 1902, a 
second statement was prepared by Jailor Whitman. This 
statement was as follows : 



456 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Number of boys in Cook county jail (Illinois) 

for years 1897, 1898 1,130 

Number of boys in Cook county jail for year 

ending July 1, 1899 575 

Total for three years 1,705 

Number of boys in same institution since juve- 
nile law (Illinois) has been in force during 
past three years 48 

The work of the Juvenile Court costs the State of Illinois 
about $4,000 a year over and above the regular expenses of 
the Circuit Court. The amount saved in avoiding criminal 
prosecution and the expense of subsequent punishment of all 
these juvenile delinquents can be readily appreciated. 

The Governor of Colorado in his inaugural address to 
the legislature, stated that the Denver Juvenile Court had saved 
the State and county $88,000 in eighteen months. A recent 
report of the work accomplished by the Kansas City, Missouri, 
Juvenile Court showed that the probation system in Kansas 
City had saved the community nearly $10,000 in a year and 
a half. That is to say, if the boys who were paroled had been 
sent to jail or to the reform school, the cost to the county 
would have reached this large sum. On the other hand, as 
they were looked after by a probation officer, the only expense 
to the tax payers was the small appropriation made by the city 
toward part of the salary of the probation officer. 

What more can be said ? The roots of crime are imbedded 
in the soil of neglect. The Juvenile Court provides an instru- 
ment whereby this soil may be turned over so that God's sun- 
light can shine on it and kill out the seeds of evil. The Juve- 
nile Court makes it possible to give the child the care that is 
its due from its great parent, the State. Like a kaleidoscope, 
the Juvenile Court changes with every turn. It can be made 
to fit every condition that may arise in child life. Through 
its influence that which, if left alone, would have covered the 
face of the earth with the tangled briars of crime and vice can 
be transformed so the desert of life will bloom like the rose. 



The emancipation proclamation. 457 



THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. 
SECRETARY CHASE'S ADDITION. 

When the final draft of the Proclamation was presented 
by the President to the Cabinet, it closed with the paragraph 
stating that the slaves it liberated would be received into the 
armed service of the United States. Mr. Chase objected to 
the appearance of a document of such momentous importance 
without one word beyond the dry phrases necessary to convey 
its meaning; and finally proposed that there be added to the 
President's draft the following sentence : 

"And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of 
justice, warranted by the Constitution, I invoke the consider- 
ate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty 
God." 

Mr. Lincoln adopted the sentence as Mr. Chase wrote it, 
only interlining after the word "Constitution," the words, 
"upon military necessity" ; and in that form the Proclamation 
went to the world, and history. 

The President originally resolved upon the policy of issu- 
ing this Proclamation in the summer of 1862. As he had 
expressed it himself, everything was going wrong; we seemed 
to have put forth our utmost effort ; and he really didn't know 
what more to do, unless he did this. Accordingly, he prepared 
the preliminary Proclamation, nearly in the form in which it 
subsequently appeared, called the Cabinet together and read 
it to them. 

Mr. Montgomery Blair was startled. "If you issue that 
proclamation, Mr. President," he exclaimed, "you will lose 
every one of the fall elections." 



45& BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Mr. Seward, on the other hand, said : "I approve of it, 
Mr. President, just as it stands. I approve of it in principle, 
and I approve of the policy of issuing it. I only object to the 
time. Send it out now, on the heels of our late disasters, and 
it will be construed as the convulsive struggle of a drowning 
man. To give it proper weight you should reserve it until 
after some victory/' 

The President assented to Mr. Seward's view, and it was 
withheld till the fall, when it was issued almost precisely as 
originally prepared. The one to which Mr. Chase supplied 
the concluding sentence was the final Proclamation, issued or» 
the subsequent ist of January. 



ADDRESS AT GETTYSBURG. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this 
continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the propo- 
sition that all men are created equal. We are engaged in a great civil war, 
testing whether that nation — or any nation so conceived and so dedicated 
— can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. Wie 
are met to dedicate a portion of that field as the final resting-place of 
those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is alto- 
gether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a large sense, 
we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. 
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it 
far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor* 
long remember, what we say here ; but it can never forget what they did 
here. 

It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished 
work which they have thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us 
to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us ; that from 
these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which 
they here gave the last full measure of devotion ; that we here highly re- 
solve that these dead shall not have died in vain ; that this nation shall, 
under God, have a new birth of freedom ; and that government of tjhe 
people, by the people, for tbe people, shall not perish from the earth. 



Lincoln. 459 

LINCOLN. 
By Edmund Vance; Cooks. 

Bulwark and barbacan, grim and tall, 
Keep and turret and moated wall, 
Portico, peristyle, stately hall, 
Palaces, castles, courts and all ; 
Lofty minaret, lordly dome, 
Humble yourselves at the childhood home 
Of Lincoln. 

Made of a few sticks, clumsily cut; 
No window to open, no door to shut ; 
So wretched, indeed, that the name of hut 
Were gilded praise of its poverty; but — 
By the kernel alone we must judge the nut. 
Who could have dreamed in that early hour 
That out of such muck would have sprung the flower — 
A Lincoln! 

Reactionaries! who strive, today, 
To hold that men are of differing clay; 
Oligarchs, plutocrats ! ye who say 
The fathers were wrong, and yea or nay 
May answer a People's Rights, today, 
That some are to rule and some obey, 
One plain word shall comand your shame; 
Into your faces I fling the name 
Of Lincoln. 

Whence did he come? From the rearmost rank 
Of the humblest file. Was it some mad prank 
Of God that the mountains were bare and blank? 
And the strong tree grew on the lowliest bank? 
Not so ! 'Tis the Law. The seed blows wide 
And the flower may bloom as the garden's pride, 
Or spring from the ditch. Nor time, nor place, 
Condition nor caste, nor clime nor race 
Can limit manhood. The proof is the case 
Of Lincoln. 

How was he trained — this untaught sage, 
With nothing but want for his heritage? 
Set to work at the tender age 
Which should have been conning a primer page — 
His whole youth spent for a pitiful wage 
As axman, farmer, boatman, clerk; 
Learned alone in the school of work 
Was Lincoln. 



460 BEST THOUGHTS 0* BEST THINKERS. 

What was his power? Not kingly caste, 
Nor jingle of gold howsoever amassed; 
Not Napoleon's force with the world aghast; 
Not Talleyrand's cunning, now loose now fast; 
Not weak persuasion or fierce duress, 
But strong with the Virtue of Homeliness 
Was Lincoln. 

Homely in feature. An old style room, 
With its tall, quaint clock and its old, quaint loom, 
Has very much of his home-made air. 
Plain, but a plainess made to wear. 
Homely in character. Void of pretense; 
Homely in homeliest common sense. 
Homely in honesty. Homespun stuff 
For every weather, mild or rough. 
Homely in humor, which bubbled up 
Like a forest spring in its earthen cup. 
Homely in justice. He knew the law, 
But often more than the letter he saw; 
And, sheathing the sword to its harmless hilt, 
Wrote "Pardon" over the blot of guilt. 
Homely in patience. His door stood wide, 
And carping and cavil from every side 
Dinned in his ears, but he went his way 
And did the strongest that in him lay. 
Homely in modesty. Never a claim 
Of credit he made, and he shirked no blame; 
Yet firm in his place as the hemisphere 
When principle said to him, "Stand thou here !" 
Homely in tenderness. Motherhood's breast, 
Where the new babe cuddles its head to rest, 
Is not more gentle than was his heart; 
Yet brave as a Bayard in every part 
Was Lincoln. 

O, Uncommon Commoner ! may your name 
Forever lead like a living flame! 
Unschooled Scholar! how did you learn 
The wisdom a lifetime cannot earn? 
Unsainted Martyr! higher than saint! 
You were a MAN with a man's constraint. 
Tn the world, of the world, was your lot; 
With it and for it the fight you fought, 
And never till Time is itself forgot 
And the heart of man is a pulseless clot, 
Shall the blood flow slow when we think the thought 
Of Lincoln. 



FIRST INDEPENDENCE DECLARATION. 461 



THE FIRST DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 
By Gustavus Meyers, in Cleveland Leader. 

That there was a prior Declaration of Independence to 
that of July 4, 1776, will be surprising information to the 
general mass of people in the United States and elsewhere. 
It is certainly a record not included in text books or standard 
American histories. In Charlotte, N. C, however, a Declara- 
tion of Independence from Great Britain was drawn up and 
signed more than a year before the United States of America's 
first Fourth of July, and May 20th is still a legal holiday in 
the State of North Carolina, while in Charlotte, it is a day of 
great celebration with parades, meetings, and patriotic speeches. 

In the months of March and April, 1775, some of the 
most energetic men of Mecklenburg County, N. C, held meet- 
ings to agitate the question of opposing Parliament's claim 
to impose taxes without representation and regulate the colo- 
nies' internal policy. The sense of the people being for a 
resistance to Parliament's policy, Thomas Polk, then Colonel 
Commandant of the county, was directed to issue an order 
calling upon each captain of the militia to call a company meet- 
ing, each company to elect two delegates to meet in general 
committee on May 19, 1775. To these delegates ample power 
was given to adopt such measures as they thought necessary to 
defend the colony's rights, and to make common cause with 
the people of Massachusetts, already aflame with resentment 
against the mother country. Various leaders addressed the 
committee before its assembling, urging a firm stand. 

What the committee had originally decided to do is not 
clear, but about this time there reached the North Carolina 
community the echo of " the shot that was heard around the 



462 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

world," from the engagement at Lexington on April 19th. 
That was decisive. The whole assemblage was stirred to its 
depths by the news. The old account of what occurred says : 
" The speakers addressed their discourses to the spectators 
as well as to the general committee, and those who were not 
convinced by their reasoning were influenced by their feelings 
and all cried out : 

" ' Let us live independent ! Let us declare our independ- 
ence and defend it with our lives and fortunes.' ' 

A committee composed of the men who had planned the 
whole proceedings was appointed to draw up resolutions. 
These read: 

I. Resolved, That whosoever directly, or indirectly abets, 
or in any way, form or manner countenances the invasion of 
our rights, as attempted by the Parliament of Great Britain, 
is an enemy to his country, to America, and the rights of men. 

II. Resolved^ That we, the citizens of Mecklenburg 
County, do hereby dissolve the political bonds which have con- 
nected us with the mother country, and absolve ourselves from 
all allegiance to the British Crown, abjuring all political con- 
nection with a nation that has wantonly trampled on our rights 
and liberties and inhumanly shed innocent blood at Lexington 
and Concord. 

III. Resolved, That we do hereby declare ourselves a 
free and independent people; that we are, and of right ought 
to be, a sovereign and self-governing people under the power 
of God and the General Congress ; to the maintenance of which 
independence we solemnly pledge to each other our mutual 
co-operation, our lives, our fortunes, and our most sacred 
honor. 

IV. Resolved, That we hereby ordain and adopt as rules 
of conduct all and each of our former laws, and that the Crown 
of Great Britain cannot be considered hereafter as holding any 
rights, privileges or immunities amongst us. 

V. Resolved, That all officers, both civil and military, 
in this country, be entitled to exercise the same powers and 
authorities as heretofore ; that every member of this delegation 



FIRST INDEPENDENCE DECLARATION. 463 

shall henceforth be a civil officer and exercise the powers of a 
justice of the peace, issue process, hear and determine con- 
troversies according to law, preserve peace, union, and harmony 
in the country, and use every exertion to spread the love of 
liberty and country until a more general and better organized 
system of government be established. 

VI. Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be trans- 
mitted by express to the President of the Continental Con- 
gress assembled in Philadelphia, to be laid before that body. 

There was some discussion and after sitting in the Court 
House all night, neither sleepy, hungry, nor fatigued, the dele- 
gates adopted the resolutions about 2 o'clock on the morning 
O'f May 20, and led by Abraham Alexander, chairman, ap- 
pended their signatures to the document. 

A few days later Captain James Jack, of Charlotte, was 
dispatched with the account of the proceedings to the Con- 
tinental Congress at Philadelphia. According to the Charlotte 
version the President of Congress " returned a polite answer 
to the address which accompanied the resolutions, in which he 
highly approved of the measures adopted by the delegates 
of Mecklenburg, but deemed the subject premature to be laid 
before Congress." At this identical time Congress was pre- 
paring a petition to the King, which was signed by every mem- 
ber on July 8, 1775, stating in part: " We have not raised 
armies with the ambitions design of separating from Great 
Britain and establishing independent States." 

The original Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence 
is not now in existence. That, together with all the records of 
the General Committee, which signed it, was burned in April, 
1800, in the fire which destroyed the house of John McKnitt 
Alexander, the secretary of the General Committee, and the 
custodian of all its records. After the fire he prepared a copy 
of the Mecklenburg Declaration for his friend, General Will- 
iam R. Davie. This copy, which is now in the archives of the 
University of North Carolina, has admittedly errors in the 
text and omits the sixth resolution. Mr. Alexander added a 



464 BEST THOUGHTS OF B£ST THINKERS. 

certificate, vouching for its substantial accuracy, but qualifying 
his statement with the proviso: " That the foregoing state- 
ment, though fundamentally correct, may not literally cor- 
respond with the original record of the transactions of said 
delegations." * * * 

That there were those in North Carolina who did not 

sympathize with the work of the convention is attested by a 

curious poem in " The Mecklenburg Censor," which was 

printed about that time. 

"When Mecklenburg's fantastic rabble, 
"Renowned for censor, scold and gabble, 
"In Charlotte met in giddy council, 
"To lay the Constitution's ground-sill, 
"By choosing men both learned and wise, 
"Who clearly could with half-closed eyes, 
"See mill stones through a spy or plot, 
"Whether existed such or not ; 
"Who always could at noon define, 
"Whether the sun or moon did shine, 
"And by philosophy tell whether, 
"It was dark or sunny weather; 
"And sometimes when their wits were nice, 
"Could well distinguish men from mice, 
"First to withdraw from British trust, 
"In Congress they the very first, 
"Their independence did declare." 

When the Royal Governor of North Carolina heard of the 
resolutions adopted May 20, 1775, he addressed the Executive 
Council upon " The late most treasonable publication by a 
committee m the County of Mecklenburg, explicitly renouncing 
obedience to his majesty's government, and all lawful authority 
whatsoever." Five days after this address the Governor 
wrote to Earl Dartmouth : " The Resolves of the Committee 
of Mecklenburg, * * * surpass all the horrid and treas- 
onable publications that the inflammatory spirit of this country 
has yet produced." 

Although the original document is lost, there is abundance 
of proof of its formulation and adoption in personal statements 
and writings preserved from the early years of the 19th 
century. 



THE MAYFLOWER. 465 

MAYFLOWER. 

One hundred and two persons left Plymouth, in Devon- 
shire, on board the Mayflower, on Wednesday, September 6| 16, 
1620. One individual died at sea, two were born on board, 
and 103 actually arrived in New-England. Governor Brad- 
ford groups these 104 persons into twenty- four households, 
or families, and single men. Their names were as follows : 

I. 1-2, Governor John Carver and wife; 3, Desire Min- 
ter; 4, John Howland, a man servant; 5, Roger Wilder, a 
man servant; 6, William Latham, a servant boy; 7, a maid 
servant; 8, Jasper More, a boy. 

II. 9-14, Master William Brewster, the ruling elder, his 

wife and two sons and two boys, Richard and More, put 

to that family. 

III. 16-19, Governor Edward Winslow, his wife; George 
Sbwle, Elias Story, man servants, and Ellen More (Richard 
More's sister), who was put to that family. 

IV. 20-21, Governor William Bradford and his wife, 
Dorothy (who was drowned from on board the Mayflower in 
Cape Cod Harbor, on December j\ij, 1620). 

V. 22-2J, Master Isaac Allerton, his wife, his son Bar- 
tholomew, and his two daughters, and John Hooke, a servant 
boy. 

VI. 28-29, Samuel Fuller, the deacon and surgeon, and 
his servant, William Butten (died at sea). 

VII. 30-31, Master John Crackston, Sr., and John 
Crackston, Jr. 

VIII. 32-33, Captain Miles Standish and wife. 

IX. 34-37* Master Christopher Martin, the treasurer, 
his wife, and two man servants, Solomon Prower and John 
Langemore. 

X. 38-42, Master William Mullins, his wife, their two 
children, and Robert Carter, servant. 

XI. 43-47, Master William White and wife, his son 
(104) Peregrine White (born on board), and two men serv- 
ants, William Holbeck and Edward Thompson. 



466 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

XII. 48-54, Master Stephen Hopkins and wife, their 
son and two daughters (103), Oceanus, born at sea, and two 
men servants, Edward Doley and Edward Leister (or Lester). 

XIII. 55. Master Richard Warren. 

XIV. 56-59, John Billington, Sr., his wife and two 
sons. 

XV. 60-63. Master Edward Tilley and wife and their 
cousins, the children Henry Samson and Humility Cooper. 

XVI. 64-66, John Tilley, his, wife, and their daughter. 

XVII. 67-68, Francis Cooke and son. 

XVIII. 69-70, Thomas Rogers and son. 

XIX. 71-73, Thomas Trucker, with wife and son. 

XX. 74-75, John Rigdale and wife. 

XXI. 76-78, James Chilton, with wife and daughter. 

XXII. 79-81, Edward Fuller, with wife and son. 

XXIII. 82-84, John Turner and his two sons. 

XXIV. 85-87, Francis Eatin, his wife and their son, 
a sucking child. 

Single men. 88-102, Moses Fletcher, Thomas Williams, 
John Goodman, Edmund Margeson, Richard Britteridge, Rich- 
ard Clarke, Degory Priest, Richard Gardiner, Gilbert Winslow, 
Peter Browne, and the sailors John Alden, John Allerton, 
Thomas English, William Trevore, and Ellis. 



THE BLUE LAWS. 

" The Century Dictionary " says that the Blue Laws are 
"a suppositious code of severe laws for the regulation of re- 
ligious and personal conduct in the Colonies of Connecticut and 
New-Haven." The following were published a long time 
ago by an unknown satirist, and have often been quoted as 
having been enacted by the Colonial Legislature of New- 
Haven. This has not been proved by documentary evidence. 

The laws enacted by the people of the " Dominion of 
New-Haven " became known as the " Blue Laws" because 
they were printed on blue paper. They were as follows : 



BLUE LAWS. 467 

No one shall be a freeman or have a vote unless he is 
converted and a member of one of the churches allowed in the 
Dominion. 

Each freeman shall swear by the blessed God to bear 
true allegiance to this Dominion and that Jesus is the only 
King. 

No dissenter from the essential worship of this Dominion 
shall be allowed to give a vote for electing of magistrate or any 
officer. 

No food or lodging shall be offered to a heretic. 

No one shall cross a river on the Sabbath but authorized 
clergymen. 

No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep 
houses, cut hair or shave on Sabbath Day. 

No one shall kiss his or her children on the Sabbath or 
feasting days. 

The Sabbath Day shall begin at sunset Saturday. 

Whoever wears, clothes trimmed with gold, silver or bone 
lace above one shilling per yard shall be presented by the Grand 
Jurors, and the Selectmen shall tax the estate £300. 

Whoever brings cards or dice into 1 the Dominion shall pay 
a fine of £5. 

No one shall eat mince pies, dance, play cards or play any 
instrument of music, except the drum, trumpet or jewsharp. 

No Gospel minister shall join people in marriage. The 
magistrate may join them, as he may do it with less scandal 
to Christ's Church. 

When parents refuse their children convenient marriages 
the magistrate shall determine the point. 

A man who strikes his wife shall be fined £10. 

A woman who strikes her husband shall be punished as 
the law directs. 

No man shall court a maiden in person or by letter with- 
out obtaining the consent of her parents; £5 penalty for the 
first offence, £10 for the second, and for the third, imprison- 
ment during the pleasure of the Court. 



468 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



LACONICS. 
BEST THOUGHTS ACROSTICALLY ARRANGED. 

Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. — Spurgeon. 

Idleness is the burial of the living man. — Jeremy Taylor. 

Self-love has, in all time, blinded the wisest. — Villcfre. 

Delicacy is to the mind what fragrance is to the fruit. — A. Poincelot. 

Opinions are stronger than armies. — Lord Palmerston. 

Motives are better than actions — Bovee. 

Intellect — the starlight of the brain. — N. P. Willis. 
Science is the topography of ignorance. — O. W. Holmes. 

Books are embalmed minds. — Bovee. 

Education is the cheap defense of nations. — Burke 

Tact is one of the first mental virtues. — Simms. 

Talent is something, but tact is everything. — Scargill. 

Evil is but the shadow that accompanies good. — F. W. Robertson. 

Riches are not an end of life, but an instrument of life. — Beecher 

Taste is, so to speak, the microscope of the judgment. — Rousseau. 
Humility, like darkness, reveals the heavenly lights. — Thoreau. 
Anger begins in folly and ends in repentance. — Pythagoras. 
Nobility should be elective, not hereditary. — Zimmerman. 

Right is might, and ever was, and ever shall be so. — Hare. 

Uncertainty ! fell demon of our fears ! — Mallet. 

Benevolence ennobles the most trifling actions. — Thackeray. 

Ignorance of one's ignorance is the malady of ignorance. — Alcott. 

Experience is the extract of suffering. — A. Helps. 

Sympathy is the first great lesson which man should learn. — Talfourd. 



SYMPOSIUM SPECIALS. 469 



SYMPOSIUM SPECIALS. 

. IMPERFECT DEFINITIONS. 481 
"Horses are four-footed animals." (Violates rule 1.457) 

"Parallel lines are those which never meet.' 

(Omits essential point — that they lie in the same plane. 492 ) 

"Parallelograms are quadrilaterals whose opposite sides are parallel 
and equal.' ("And equal" is superfluous.) 

"Net-work is anything decussated or reticulated, with interstices be- 
tween the intersections." 

(Terms employed need defining more than the thing defined.) 

"A law is a lawful command." (Violates rule 5. 496 ). 

"Music is the science of musical sounds. " 49 G 

"Industry is not honesty." (Negative.497) 

"Patriotism is a moral, social or political virtue. (Indeterminate. 4 ^) 

"A miracle is an effect or event contrary to the established constitu- 
tion or course of things, or a sensible suspension or controlment of, or 
deviation from the known laws of nature, wrought either by the> con- 
currence, or by the permission of God, for the proof or evidence of some 
particular person." (Gives his theory, which is unessential. 492 ). 



NOMINAL DEFINITION. 483 
"Sphere * * * a volume bounded by a uniformly curved surface." 

REAL DEFINITION 484 
"Sphere * * * a volume bounded by a curved surface all the points 
of which are equally distant from a point within." 

GENETIC DEFINITION. 485 
"Sphere * * * a volume generated by revolving a circle about a 
diameter." 



470 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



FALLACIES. 508 

The following is the celebrated fallacy of Euathlus and 
Protagoras. 

Euathlus, a young man, agreed to pay Protagoras, the 
prince of sophists, a large sum of money to accomplish him 
as a legal rhetorician. One half the sum was paid down, and it 
was agreed that the other half should be paid on the day when 
Euathlus should plead and gain his first case. But as the 
scholar was not in so> much of a hurry to commence his legal 
practice as the master to obtain the other half of his fee, 
Protagoras brought Euathlus into court, and addressed him 
thus : " Learn, most foolish of young men, that whether the 
judges decide in your favor or against you, pay me my de- 
mand you must. For if the judgment be against you, I shall 
obtain the fee by decree of the court, but if in your favor, I 
shall obtain it by the terms of the contract, since it becomes 
due on the very day you gain your first case." 

To this Euathlus rejoined : " Learn, most sapient of Mas- 
ters, from your own argument, that whatever may be the find- 
ing of the court, absolved I must be from any claim by you. 
For if the decision be favorable, I pay nothing by the sentence 
of the judges; but if unfavorable, I pay nothing in virtue of 
the compact, since though pleading, I shall not have gained 
my case." 

OTHER FALLACIES. 

" It is an observation which all the world can verify, that there is 
nothing so deplorable as the conduct of some celebrated mathematicians 
in their own affairs, nor anything so absurd as their opinions on the 
sciences not within their jurisdiction." 

Hence, the study of mathematics destroys common sense. 



FALLACIES. 471 

No cat has nine tails. 
Every cat has one tail more than no cat. 
Therefore, Every cat has ten tails. 

That side of the river is one side of the river. 
This side of the river is not that side of the river. 

Therefore, This side of the river is the other side of the river.^ 27 

If Christianity were from God, it would be universal.sio 
It is not universal. 

Therefore, It is not from God. 

Those who found universities are patrons of learning. 
King Alfred founded the university of Oxford. 
Therefore, King Alfred was a great scholar.528 

The fact of knowledge implies a correspondence of nature between the 

knowing subject and the known object. 
Matter is to mind an object of knowledge. 

Therefore, Mind is resolvable into matter or matter into mind. 

Things totally unlike cannot act upon each other. 
Mind and matter are totally unlike. 

Therefore, Mind cannot act upon matter. , 

Mind cannot act upon matter. 

The movements of the body correspond to the relations of the mind. 
Therefore, There is a pre-established harmony between mind and 
matter. 

The volitions of the mind cannot cause the movements of the body. 
The hypothesis of a pre-established harmony is untenable. 

Therefore, God causes the volitions of the body to correspond with 
the movements of the mind. 



472 B£ST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS, 



LAWYER'S ENGLISH. 

Counsel : Do you know Mr. A. ? 

Witness: Oh, yes; I've known him many years. 

Counsel: — And do you know his standing in the com- 
munity, what his character is, — in the speech of the people, 
I mean? 

Witness : Yes, sir ; very well. 

Counsel: Well, now, what, in your knowledge, is his 
character for truth and veracity ? 

Amicus Curiae: It is respectfully represented to the 
court that the question is incompetent. " Character and repu- 
tation " are not synonymous terms. A man's character is what 
the man is; his reputation is what people think of him. It is 
possible for a man to have a good character, and yet labor un- 
der the disadvantage of a bad reputation. On the other hand, 
there are many men of good or unquestioned reputation who 
nevertheless are men of bad character. Character is subjec- 
tive, while reputation is objective. No one can know what a 
man's character really is, except, perhaps, the man himself. 
Character may be guessed at, as the evidences of it appear in 
the man's life and conduct. But, if any one attempts to speak of 
the character of another, he can do no more than give his own 
opinion as to the secret and hidden motives and principles of 
the person in question, stating that opinion as the result of 
his observations. But, per contra, reputation can be ascer- 
tained and stated as a matter of fact. The estimation which 
is placed on a man by his neighbors is itself an opinion; but 
the existence of such opinion, and whether it is good or bad, 
is a fact. This fact may be testified to by any one who has 
sufficient knowledge of the talk and speculation of the com- 
munity. But it is an abuse of language to ask a witness, 
'' What is A's character for truth and veracity?" for the an- 



lawyer's kngush. 473 

swer of the witness could at best be no more than a general- 
ization from the results of his own observation. But if the 
witness is asked, " What is his reputation? he is asked to 
state a fact. Of this fact he may or may not have adequate 
knowledge, but in any case, if he assumes to answer at all, he is 
testifying to a fact, and not an opinion. 

In the next place, your honor, the question last propounded 
to the witness on the stand includes a second, though less im- 
portant, inaccuracy. " Truth and veracity," in the sense in 
which they are here used, are convertible terms. Hence the 
expression objected to is pleonastic. A man's reputation for 
" truth" is his reputation for telling the truth. Veracity is no 
more or less than truthfulness. Hence we might just as well 
ask. "What is his reputation for truth and truthfulness?" or 
" What is his reputation for veracity and veraciousness?" The 
law has not hitherto brought any reproach upon itself for par- 
simony in the use of words, and any reduplications which, so 
far from adding anything to the meaning, are positively super- 
fluous and absurd, may just as well be omitted by all who care 
to save their own time, and are much better omitted by any 
who care to use the noble English language in its purity and 
strength. Our lawyers' jargon is full enough, to the mind of 
the layman, of unnecessary verbiage. We of the craft know 
why so much of it is retained, for the usefulness of " abundant 
caution " is ever before our eyes. But here is a case where 
every good and useful purpose is subserved by rejecting the 
intrusive term which merely detracts from the plain and 
simple force of the question. 

The Court: On that view it is plain that the question 
should not be admitted. 

Counsel: Well, well, I'll withdraw it, then, and ask 
another. What is A's reputation for truthfulness? 

Witness: Well, I wouldn't believe him under oath. 



474 



B£ST thoughts of best thinkers. 



A MORTGAGE 1800 YEARS OLD. 

Every business man is acquainted with the appearance 
of the conventional mortgage. A mortgage which is 1800 
years old must, however, be regarded in the nature of some- 
thing unusual. Such a document was found among some old 
Egyptian papyri, recently discovered at Oxyrhynchus. It is 
surprising to note the similarity of this ancient document to 
the mortgage of the present day. The paper sets forth the 
contract of loan from Thonis, son Harpeasis, etc., received by 
Caecilius Clemens, the loan consisting of 400 drachmae. The 
security given was the third part of a house situated in the Gym- 
nasium Square Quarter, by the Temple of Osiris and the 
Treasury. From the document it would appear that the 
registrar of that time was called Agoranomos. Here is the 
wording of the document in full : 



CAECILIUS CLEMENS TO THE AGORANOMOS 

(OR REGISTRAR), GREETING: 

REGISTER A CONTRACT OF LOAN FROM 
THONIS, SON OF HARPAESIS, SON OF PETSERO, 
HIS MOTHER BEING PETOSIRIS, DAUGHTER OF 
HARPAESIS, OF THE CITY OF OXYRHYNCHUS, 
CHIEF BEARER IN THE TEMPLE OF THOERIS 
AND ISIS AND SARAPIS AND OSIRIS AND THE 
ASSOCIATED MOST MIGHTY GODS, ON THE 
SECURITY OF THE THIRD PART OF A HOUSE 
IN WHICH THERE IS A HALL, WITH THE COURT 
AND EXITS AND APPURTENANCES, SITUATED 
IN THE GYMNASIUM SQUARE QUARTER BY THE 
TEMPLE OF OSIRIS AND THE TREASURY, WHICH 
WAS MORTGAGED TO HIM BY HIS FULL 
BROTHER THOMPHUAS IN RETURN FOR AN 
ACCOMMODATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH A 
NOTE OF HAND AND A PAYMENT THROUGH A 
BANK OF 400 DRACHMA. 



LAST WORDS OF GREAT MEN. 475 



LAST WORDS OF GREAT MEN. 

Great men's last words frequently are twisted and dis- 
torted by posterity to such an extent that one is at a loss to 
know what the final utterance really was. Sometimes there 
are several versions of "last words" applied to one person. In 
the preparation of the following symposium of dying words 
the best authorities have been consulted, and an earnest effort 
has been made to give the words just as they were spoken 
with the expiring breath of the departing celebrity. 

Adams, John (1735-1826), American statesman: "Jefferson survives." 

Adams, John Quincy (1767-1848), American statesman: "This is the 
last of earth ! I am content !" 

Arnold, Benedict (1740-1801), American general: "Let me die in the 
old uniform in which I fought my battles for freedom. May God for- 
give me for ever putting on any other!" 

Beethoven, Ludwig (1770-1827), German composer: "I shall hear 
now !' (He was deaf.) 

Bozzaris, Markos (1790-1823), Greek patriot: "To die for liberty is a 
pleasure and not a pain." 

Bronte, Charlotte (1816-1855), English novelist: "I am not going 
to die, am I? He will not separate us, we have been so happy!" (To 
her hus*band.) 

Brooks, Phillips (1835-1893), American clergyman: "Katie, you may 
go; I shall not need you any more. I am going home." 

Buckland, Francis (1826-1880), English naturalist: "1 am going on a 
long journey, and I shall see many strange animals by the way." 

Burke, Edmund (1730-1797), English statesman: "God bless you." 

Burns, Robert (1759-1796), Scottish poet; "Don't let that awkward 
squad fire over my grave." 

Calvin, John (1509-1564), Protestant reformer: "Thou, Lord, bruis- 
est me; but I am abundantly satisfied, since it is from Thy hands." 

Chalmers, Thomas (1780-1847), Scottish divine: "A general good 
night." 



476 best Thoughts of best thinkers. 

Columbus, Christopher (1440-1506), Discoverer: "Lord, into Thy 
hands I commit my spirit." 

Charles I of England (1600-1649) : "Remember." 

Byron, Lord (1788-1824), English poet: "I must sleep now." 

Charles II of England (1630-1685) : "Don't let poor Nelly (Nell 
Gwynne) starve." 

Chesterfield, Lord (1694-1773), English courtier: "Give the doctor a 
chair." 

Cowper, William (1731-1800), English poet: "Feel? I feel unutter- 
able, unutterable despair. What does it signify?" 

Cromwell, Oliver (1599-1658), English statesman: "My desire is to 
make what haste I may to be gone." 

De Stael, Mme. (1766-1817), French authoress: "I have loved my 
God, my father and liberty." 

Eliot, George (1820-1880), English novelist: "Tell them (the doc- 
tors)' I have a great pain in the left side." 

Franklin, Benjamin (1706-1790), American philosopher: "A dying 
man can do nothing easy." 

Frederick the Great of Prussia (1712-1786) : "We are over the hill. 
We shall go better now." 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey (1539-1583), English navigator: "We are as 
near heaven by sea as by land." 

Gladstone, William Ewart (1809-1898), British statesman: "Amen." 

Goethe (1749-1832), German poet: "Open the shutters and let in 
more light." 

Greeley, Horace (1811-1872), American journalist: "It is done." 

Hale, Nathan (1755-1776), American patriot: "I only regret that I 
have but one life to give to my country." 

Havelock, Henry (1795-1857), English general: "Tell my son to come 
and see how a Christian can die." 

Henry, Patrick (1736-1810), American orator and patriot: "Here is 
a book (the Bible) worth more than all others ever printed; yet it is my 
misfortune never to have found time to read it. It is now too late. I 
trust in the mercy of God." 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell (1809-1894), American poet and prose 
writer: "That is better, thank you." (To his son, who had just assisted 
him to his favorite chair.) 

Humboldt, Frederick (1769-1859), German savant and traveler: 
"How grand these rays ! They seem to beckon earth to heaven." 

Jefferson, Thomas (1743-1826), American statesman: "I resign my 
spirit to God and my daughter to my country." 



LAST WORDS OF GREAT M£N. 477 

Josephine (1763-1814), Empress of France: "Isle of Elba! Napo- 
leon !" 

Julian (331-363), Roman emperor: "O Galilean, thou hast con- 
quered." 

Keats, John (1795-1821), English poet: "I feel the daisies growing 
over me." 

Latimer, Hugh (1472-1555), English reformer: "Be of good cheer, 
brother; we shall this day kindle such a torch in England as I trust shall 
never be extinguished. (To Nicholas Ridley, who was burned with him.) 

Lawrence, James (1781-1813), American naval officer; "Don't give 
up the ship." 

Louis XIII of France (1601-1643) : "There come to me thoughts that 
torment me." 

Louis XIV of France (1638-1715) : "I thought dying had been 
harder." 

Louis XVIII of France (1755-1824) : "A king should die standing." 

Louise of Prussia (1776-1810) : "I am a queen, but have not power 
to move my arms." 

Marie Louise (1791-1847), Empress of France: "I will not sleep; I 
wish to meet death wide awake." 

Marie Antoinette (1755-1793), Queen of France: "Farewell, my child- 
ren, forever; I go to your father." 

Marion, Francis (1732-1795), American general: "Thank God, I can 
lay my hand upon my heart and say that since I came to man's estate I 
have never intentionally done wrong to anyone.'" 

Moody, Dwight L. (1837-1899), American evangelist: "Earth is re- 
ceding; heaven is approaching; God is calling me." 

Napoleon (1769-1821), Emperor of France; "Head of the army." 

Napoleon III of France (1803-1873) : "Were you at Sedan?" (To 
Dr. Conneau.) 

Nelson, Horatio (1758-1805), English admiral: "I thank God I have 
done my duty." 

Palmer, John (1740-1798), English actor: "There is another and bet- 
ter world." 

Pitt, William (1759-1806), English statesman: "O, my country, how 
I love thee !" 

Raleigh, Sir Walter (1552-1618), English courtier and navigator: 
"Why dost thou not strike? Strike, man!" (To his executioner.) 

Roland, Mme. (1754-1793), French lady; "O, Liberty, how many 
crimes are committed in thy name !" 



478 best Thoughts otf b£st Thinkers. 

Scott, Winfield (1786-1866), American general: "James, take good 
care of the horse." 

Sidney, Sir Philip (1622-1683), English patriot: "I would not change 
my joy for the empire of the world." 

Thurlow, Edward (1732-1806'), English lawyer: "I'll be shot if I 
don't believe I'm dying." 

Vane, Henry (1612-1662), English statesman: "Ten thousand deaths 
for me ere I stain the purity of my conscience." 

Washington, George (1732-1799), American general and statesman: 
"It is well. I am about to die, and I look upon it with perfect resigna- 
tion." 

Webster, Daniel (1782-1852), American statesman: " I still live.*' 

Wellington, Duke of (1769-1852), British general and statesman: 
"Yes, if you please." (To a servant asking if he would have some tea.) 

Wesley, John (1703-1791), English divine: "The best of all is, God 
is with us. Farewell." 

Wilson, Daniel (1778-1858), English theologian: "Sleep! I am asleep 
already ; I am talking in my sleep." 

Wolfe, James (1726-1759), English general: "What, do they run 
already? Then I thank God and die happy." 



UNCLASSIFIED. 



SARCASM AND INVECTIVE, 48 1 



SARCASM AND INVECTIVE. 

Sir P. Sidney says, "No sword bites so fiercely as an evil 
tongue." The well-worn adage, "The pen is mightier than 
the sword," is another tribute to the supremacy of words over 
weapons. "A wound from a tongue is worse than a wound 
from a sword ; for the latter affects only the body, the former 
the spirit," is part of our inheritance of the wisdom of bygone 
ages, in this case uttered by Pythagoras; and later, Quarles 
writes (Divine Emblems, 1635) "If thou desire to be wise, 
be so wise as to hold thy tongue." Pythagoras, B. C. 582, 
was a Greek philosopher who founded a new school of ethics, 
and is said to have laid great stress on the discipline of the 
will in obedience to the judgment. 

Carlyle says, "Speech is great, but silence is greater," 
and again, the same author, "This is such a serious world 
that we should never speak at all, unless we have something 
to say," Plutarch (Greek biographer, A. D. 46) observes, 
"He can never speak well who knows not how to hold his 
peace." Gildersleeve says of Plutarch, "He practiced the 
noble doctrine that he preached. There was no more amiable 
character in the history of his times; no more sympathetic 
and generous soul." 

"A judicious silence is always better than truth spoken 
without charity," is the manner in which De Sales expresses 
about the same sentiment as George Eliot puts into the words, 
"Blessed is the man who, ' having nothing to say, abstains 
from giving wordy evidence of the fact." 

And so we might quote many authors, both ancient and 
modern, to the effect that when we cannot speak well of our 
brother man it is better to keep silence. But after exercising 
all charity for the shortcomings of frail humanity, there is 
yet a legitimate place in literature for Sarcasm and Invective. 



482 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

When principles and not men are under discussion, there is 
need of strong terms of denunciation, and effective means of 
bringing into ridicule and disrepute that which is infamous, 
or in any other way unworthy. There are also times when 
people as well as principles should be made the object of 
scathing rebuke, and that, too, without any violation of the 
obligation of charity as above recommended. It is not the 
use, but the abuse, of these unusual (too often usual) forms 
of expression that causes harm. 

There are many forms of derogatory speech, all closely 
allied to each other. Under Sarcasm 221 and Invective 220 we 
may properly discuss Irony, 214 Burlesque, 217 Denunciation, 215 
Lampoon, 219 Satire, 222 and that curious — no, it is too com- 
mon to be curious — conglomeration of all the derogatory 
forms of speech known as scolding. 216 (We will not dignify 
it with a capital.) But now, candidly, let us say a word about 
this all too prevalent form of expression. Scolding is a term 
which embodies all forms of fault-finding, accusation, dis- 
paragement, contumely, wherein the object is to show dis- 
respect for the person addressed. Scolding grows upon one 
as a habit, until the scolder is unable to throw it off, and the 
scoldee, if not rendered callous and devoid of all sensitiveness 
to such attacks, becomes an abject slave, with no respect for 
himself or his tormentor. It is said that intemperance is the 
worst evil in the world today. Scolding is a close second, and 
much more widely diffused. Each aggravates the other, and 
either may be the prime cause of the other. But scolding is 
also a terrible curse in many a household where intemperance 
is unknown. It represents almost the total sum of domestic 
inharmony. What a crusade could be waged against scold- 
ing, if only a worthy leader could be found. 

Where the habit is thoroughly established, there is not 
much hope of breaking it up, but there is great encourage- 
ment for future generations in the recognition of the true 
status of scolding as a habit, a pernicious, despicable, unreas- 
onable habit, but a habit merely. Nine-tenths of the scolding 
done is without any foundation of fact, and the actual fault 
on which the other one-tenth is based could have been cor- 



SARCASM AND INVECTIVE. 4&3 

rected in kindness, if corrected at all. Nothing is ever gained 
by scolding that cannot be gained without it, and much is 
sure to be lost. 

The time for these principles to become settled convic- 
tions in the heart, is during the honeymoon. If at that time 
the loathsome habit of scolding can be seen and appreciated in 
all its loathsomeness, steps will naturally be taken toward the 
formation of the opposite habit — that of constantly seeking 
to please — and that habit becoming established, the honey- 
moon never ends. It may sound too good to be true, but there 
are a glorious few of those heavens-on-earth now ; and therein 
lies the hope of future generations. 

But to return to my subject (for the digression, I need 
ask no apology) the various elements involved in all these 
forms are best differentiated by defining them, but almost any 
author will define one in terms of the others, thus violating 
some of the laws of definition, 486 especially the 5th, "A defi- 
nition must not involve the circle." 495 

Irony — A kind of ridicule which expresses the errors or 
faults of others by seeming to adopt them. 

Sarcasm — A keen, reproachful expression; a satirical 
remark; a taunt, a gibe, a cutting jest. 

Burlesque — Ludicrous representation, exaggerated par- 
ody ; satire an ironical or satirical composition. 

Lampoon — A personal satire in writing; censure written 
to reproach and vex; abuse. 

Invective — An expression which inveighs or rails against 
a person ; a severe or violent utterance of censure or reproach. 

Satire — A composition, generally poetical, holding up 
vice or folly to reprobation; an invective poem; sarcasm; 
ridicule. 

Ridicule — The expression of laughter mingled with con- 
tempt. Contemptuous derision. Synonyms : wit, banter, rail- 
lery, burlesque, mockery, irony, satire, sarcasm, jibe, jeer, 
sneer. 

Raillery — Good-humored pleasantry or slight satire; sati- 
rical merriment. 214 222 



4&4 B E sT THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

It will be seen that these definitions overlap each other, 
as in fact, they must do, for each term represents a complex 
idea, and no one is entirely independent of all the others. Yet 
in any one there is a predominating feature that distinguishes 
it from all the others. 

To close this article, we append four selections on scold- 
ing, three treating the subject seriously, but beautifully and 
touchingly, the fourth in the form of a burlesque. 



OUR OWN. 

If I had known in the morning 
How wearily all the day 

The words unkind 

Would trouble my mind 
I said when you went away, 
I had been more careful, darling, 
Nor given you needless pain, 

But we vex "our own'" 

With look and tone 
We may never take back again. 

For though in the quiet evening 

You may give me the kiss of peace, 

Yet it might be 

That never for me 
The pain of the heart should cease. 
How many go forth in the morning 
That never come home at night, 

And hearts have broken 

For harsh words spoken 
That sorrow can ne'er set right. 

We have careful thoughts for the stranger, 
And smiles for the sometimes guest ; 
But oft for "our own" 
The bitter tone, 
Though we love "our own" the best. 
Ah, lips with the curve impatient! 

Ah, brow with that look of scorn ! 
'Twere a cruel fate 
Were the night too late 
To undo the work of the morn. 

—Margaret E. Sangster. 



SARCASM AND INVECTIVE. 4^5 



IF WE COULD ONLY KNOW. 

If we could only know 

Just where the words which we do speak would go, 

There would be fewer aching hearts below. 

If we could only know 

Just where would strike the arrows that we throw, 

There would be fewer bleeding wounds to show. 

If we could only tell 

Of what use sorrows were which us befell, 

We should be comforted, and know 'twas well, 

If we could only see 

All the hereafter, less dread there would be 

Of the unfathomable eternity. 

We cannot know, as yet we may not see; 

But still there need be no uncertainty, \ 

For we may place our hopes and fears with Thee. 

— Alice Lena Cole. 



LET SOMETHING GOOD BE SAID. 

When over the fair fame of friend or foe 

The shadow of disgrace shall fall, instead 
Of words of blame, or proof of thus and so. 

Let something good be said. 

Forget not that no fellow being yet 

May fall so low but love may lift his head; 
Even the cheek of shame with tears is wet, 

If something good be said. 

No generous heart may vainly turn aside 

In ways of sympathy; no soul is dead 
But may awaken strong and glorified, 

If something good be said. 

And so I charge ye, by the thorny crown, 

And by the cross on which the Savior bled, 
And by your own soul's hope of fair renown, 

Let something good be said. 

James Whitcomb Riley. 



486 bdst thoughts of best thinkers. 

SESQUIPEDALIA VERBA. 

In Madden's "Revelations of Ireland" we find a whim- 
sical account of a scolding match between the late Mr. O'Con- 
nell, then a young man just called to the bar, and one Biddy 
Moriarity, an ancient widow, who kept a huckster's stall on 
one of the quays, nearly opposite the Four Courts, and whose 
powers of abuse were notorious from one end of Dublin to 
the other. The lingual duello was the result of a wager, Mr. 
O'Connell backing himself to outscold and silence the virago. 
The result is thus described: 

The party adjourned to the huckster's stall, and there 
was the owner herself, superintending the sale of her small 
wares — a few loungers and ragged idlers were hanging about 
her stall, for Biddy was a "character," and, in her way, was 
one of the sights of Dublin. 

O'Connell was very confident of success. He had laid 
an ingenious plan for overcoming her, and with all the 
anxiety of an ardent experimentalist, waited to put it into 
practice. He resolved to open the attack. At this time 
O'Connell's own party and the loungers about the place formed 
an audience quite sufficient to rouse Mrs. Moriarty, on public 
provocation, to a due exhibition of her powers. O'Connell 
commenced the attack. 

"What's the price of this walking-stick, Mrs. What's 
your Name?" 

"Moriarity, sir, is my name, and a good one it is; and 
what have you to say agen it? and one-and-sixpence's the 
price of the stick. Troth, it's chape as dirt, so it is ?" 

"One-and-sixpence for a walking stick ! Whew, why, 
you are no better than an imposter, to ask eighteen pence for 
what cost you two pence." 

"Twopence your grandmother," replied Mrs. Biddy, "do 
you mean to say that it's cheating the people I am? Impos- 
ter, indeed!" 

"Ay, imposter! and it's that I call you to your teeth," 
rejoined O'Connell. 






SARCASM AND INVECTIVE. 4^7 

''Come, cut your stick, you cantankerous jackanapes. 

"Keep a civil tongue in your head, you old diagonal," 
cried O'Connell, calmly. 

"Stop your jaw, you pug-nosed badger, or by this and 
that," cried Mrs. Moriarity, "I'll make you go quicker nor 
you came." 

"Don't be in a passion, my old radius — anger will only 
wrinkle your beauty." 

"By the hokey, if you say another word of impudence, 
I'd tan your dirty hide, you bastely common scrub ; and sorry 
I'd be to soil my fists upon your dirty carcase." 

"Whew ! boys, what a passion old Biddy is in ; I protest 
as I am a gentleman — " 

"Jintleman! jintleman! the likes of you a jintleman! 
Wisha, by gore, that bangs Banagher. Why, you potato- 
faced pippin-sneezer, where did a Madagascar monkey like 
you pick up enough of common Christian dacency to hide 
your Kerry brogue?" 

"Easy, now — easy, now" cried O'Connell with imper- 
turbable good humor, " don't choke yourself with fine language, 
you old whisky-drinking parallelogram." 

"What's that you call me, you murdering villain !" roared 
Mrs. Moriarity, stung into fury. 

"I call you," answered O'Connell, "a parallelogram; and 
a Dublin judge and jury will say that it's no libel to call 
you so!" 

"Oh, tare-an-hounds ! oh, holy Biddy ! that an honest 
woman like me should be called a parrybellygrum to her face ! 
I'm none of your parrybellygrums, you rascally gallows-bird ! 
you cowardly, sneaking, plate-licking bliggard !" 

"Oh, not you, indeed!" retorted O'Connell; "why, I sup- 
pose you'll deny that you keep a hypothenuse in your house !" 

"It's a lie for you, you robber ! I never had such a thing 
in my house, you swindling thief !" 

"Why, sure all the neighbors know very well that you 
keep not only a hypothenuse, but that you have got two diam- 
eters locked up in your garret, and that you go out to walk 
with them every Sunday, you heartless heptagon." 



488 BEST THOUGHTS OF BKST THINKERS. 

"Oh, hear that, ye saints of glory ! Oh, there's bad lan- 
guage from a fellow that wants to pass for a jintleman! May 
the divil fly away with you, you micher from Munster, and 
make celery sauce of your rotten limbs, you mealy-mouthed 
tub of guts." 

"Ah, you can't deny the charge, you miserable sub-mul- 
tiple of a duplicate ratio." 

"G0 1 , rinse your mouth in the Liffey, you nasty tickle- 
pitcher; after all the bad words you speak it ought to be 
filthier than your face, you dirty chicken of Beelzebub." 

"Rinse your own mouth, you wicked-minded old polygon 
— to the deuce I pitch you, your blustering intersection of 
superficies." 

"You saucy tinker's apprentice, if you don't cease your 
jaw, I'll — but here she gasped for breath, unable to hawk up 
any more words, for the last volley of O'Connell had nearly 
knocked the wind out of her. 

"While I have a tongue I'll abuse you, you most inimit- 
able periphery! Look at her, boys! there she stands — a con- 
victed perpendicular in petticoats! There's contamination in 
her circumference, and she trembles with guilt down to the 
extremities of her corollaries. Ah! you're found out, you 
rectilineal antecedent and equiangular old hag! 'Tis with 
you the devil will fly away, you porter-sweeping similitude 
of the bisection of a vortex." 

Overwhelmed with this torrent -of language, Mrs. Mol- 
arity was silenced. Catching up a saucepan, she was aiming 
at O'Connell's head, when he very prudently made a timely 
retreat. 

"You have won the wager, O'Connell; here's your bet," 
cried the gentleman who proposed the contest. 

O'Connell knew well the use of sound in vitupera- 
tion ; and having to deal with an ignorant scold, determined to 
overcome her in volubility by using all the sesquipedalia verba 
which occur in Euclid. With these and a few significant epi- 
thets and a scoffing, impudent demeanor, he had for once 
imposed silence on Biddy Moriarity. 



NEWSPAPERS. 4^9 



AS TO' NEWSPAPERS. 
By John Coulter. 

The average intelligent citizen who reads the newspapers 
— and he is intelligent because he does read them — is thor- 
oughly convinced that the men who produced these journals 
do not understand their business. If there is one thing more 
than another of which the intelligent citizen is absolutely 
certain it is that he could manage a newspaper and attend to 
his own affairs at the same time. As a rule (the exceptions 
proving its truth), the more unsuccessful a man is in the con- 
duct of the financial end of his business or profession the 
more convinced is he that the conduct of a daily paper is the 
easiest problem in the world to solve. 

It must not be said that the average intelligent citizen is 
at fault. It is the fault of the newspaper itself. The latter is an 
alluring delusion and a transparent snare. It is a model of 
modesty, condensation, elaboration, completion and attrac- 
tiveness. It is deceptive from the date line to the last word 
in the final advertisement on the last page, and confirms the 
reader in the opinion that the life of those fortunate enough 
to engage in newspaper work is one glad sweet song that only 
suffers interruption at the arrival of payday. 

Not one man in ten who assists in the making of a news- 
paper knows what an intricate machine that newspaper is. 
A watch or a locomotive is a toy compared with it. The 
reporter gets the news and writes it up, but is ignorant of the 
workings of the clicking wonder that puts it into type; the 
linotype operator knows nothing of the reporter further than 
that the latter must be an inquisitive fellc*w to find out so 
much ; the man in the art department cares nothing about the 
reporter, the typesetter, the "man on the desk" (who reads 
everything before it goes to the composing-room) ; the finan- 



49° BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

cial editor knows nothing outside his particular domain; the 
real estate editor never thinks of taking his nose out of the 
dirt; the dramatic editor and the musical critic are serenely 
oblivious to everything beyond the theater or concert hall ; and 
so it goes. Each man is in his place and department, and 
looks upon all other departments with proper contempt. 
Everything is in apparent disorder, but the whole is order in 
ideality. 

So far as apparent order is concerned, it begins with the 
city editor. He is the man who keeps a firm yet gentle hand 
upon the city's pulse. He determines what is news and what 
is not. The most benign, composed and peaceful of indivi- 
duals, he is fierce only in the quest for the information the 
people want; he knows what the people want; the peo- 
ple themselves do not know until they read it in the 
morning paper. The city editor knows every man in 
town, but is personally acquainted with few; the re- 
porter is the city editor's hand-maiden, and what the 
reporter does not find out never happened. The reporter is 
the mainstay of the newspaper; without him there would be 
no newspaper, but he is not egotistic; he is never surprised 
and takes things as they come. The reporter would report 
the resurrection without thought as to consequences; the 
reporter assigned to write up the end of the world would 
betray neither astonishment nor more than passing interest. 
When the reporter goes out upon an assignment he is the 
embodiment of the newspaper itself; he is not an individual, 
and possesses no personality. The city editor has no definite 
individuality, either, so far as the outside world is concerned, 
and yet his impress is upon every page of the paper which 
contains news relating to the town. 

Above and beyond all those who represent cogs and 
wheels within this wonderful machine is the managing editor. 
Inside or outside, the office he may be, and he may not be, an 
impressive figure, but he is the man at the helm. He directs 
all things pertaining to the news end of the paper, and he is 
not afraid to invade the sacred precincts of the editorial page. 



NEWSPAPERS. 49 I 

All departments are under his eye, and his glance may scorch 
even the most talented writer. This man has his fingers upon 
the pulse of the world. Asia is as familiar to him as England. 
The lightning is his slave. He penetrates the four corners of 
the earth, and will soon have telephonic communication with 
the north pole. He can hear the plaintive cries of Bulgaria, 
Macedonia and Albania; China's complaints ring in his ears, 
and the Manchurian question is an open book to him; he sits 
with international arbitration committees and watches the 
progress of event's in the Philippines and South Africa; he 
knows the United States by heart; the news from Patagonia 
does not puzzle him; South America is but across the street. 
He sends for the news from everywhere through his trusty 
adherent, the telegraph editor, and all for the benefit of the 
public and the glory of his own paper. He reads all the other 
newspapers, together with the magazines and other publica- 
tions ; peruses advertisements wherein is often concealed valu- 
able information which readily may be transformed into news. 
He has to do with the editorial writers, also, although they 
may be under the immediate control of the editor-in-chief. 

The editorial writer is an interesting and mysterious 
individual. He is ready for anything and everything. At 
one time in the history of newspapers he wrote with a quill 
pen, but in this age he uses a pencil or a typewriter. It is all 
the same to him, however, for his articles appear on the edi- 
torial page as of yore. The editorial is not the power it was 
in the time of Horace Greeley, Henry J. Raymond and Thur- 
low Weed, for it lacks the personality it once enjoyed. This 
is not to be taken to mean that the editorials written today are 
not equal in force and power to those of forty years ago; it 
means that the newspapers of this time are more impersonal ; 
it is the paper itself which speaks through the medium of the 
editorial. There are, indeed, some papers now published 
which are personally conducted, but they are few. The great 
majority of the newspapers of the United States are political 
organs, representing one or the other of the great parties; 
some are independent, with a slight political leaning, yet en- 
joying a certain amount of political freedom ; half a score in 



49 2 BEST THOUGHTS OF BtfST THINKERS. 

this country are untrammeled, with no affiliations whatever, 
which are impersonal to a degree. 

There is no reason why the editorial writer should have 
a personality. It is the paper that speaks. Each paper has 
a corps of these laborers, and when it is necessary an out- 
sider may be called in. A technical matter may be under dis- 
cussion and an expert is the only one who can prepare a cor- 
rect and authoritative opinion. Great lawyers, officers of the 
army and navy, business men and manufacturers, financiers, 
scientists and other professional men often write editorials, 
but their utterances are not their own; they belong to the 
newspaper. Editorial writers must be, and, as a rule, are, 
men of wide reading and acquainted with the politics and 
current events of the day; they must have their wits about 
them and be capable of dexterous and practically instantaneous 
thought. Editorial writers often possess the happy faculty 
of combining news with comment, so that the reader, after 
perusing the article, can dispense with the news article entirely. 

The real newspaper takes the world for its oyster, and 
opens it up daily for the benefit of its readers. Real news 
interests every class. The great battle between free trade and 
protection in England; the attitude of the French ministry 
toward the religious organizations within the confines of that 
republic; the relations diplomatic and otherwise of Russia, 
China and Japan; the administration of affairs by the Sublime 
Porte in eastern Europe; the state of feeling between the 
Quirinal and the Vatican ; political fights in the United States ; 
our treatment of the Filipinos; labor, financial and general 
industrial matters; the situation in Cuba; crime; science; reli- 
gion; the crops; sports — these and a thousand other subjects 
constitute the news for one day in a metropolitan daily paper. 
There, is something to interest everyone. No single person 
reads all sorts of news, but if there be any one subject in 
which he is interested he will find it there. 

As to the ingredients which enter into the composition 
of a newspaperman few can recite in detail. The journalist, 
to use a general term, is born to his profession. It is not an 
easy matter to make a newspaperman out of the average 



NEWSPAPERS. 493 

citizen. The former is what he is by instinct ; he may or may 
not be college bred ; he must know news when he sees it, know 
bow to 1 get it and know how to write it. He must be quick, 
alert, energetic, tireless, patient, apt, and of good judgment. 
It is not enough that he should be acquainted with the law of 
libel, for there is not a newspaper of metropolitan character 
in the United States that does not contain at least a score of 
libelous articles in every issue. To tell the truth, is libel ; to 
lie is libel ; to make certain declarations constitutes a libel ; to 
insinuate is libelous, and yet the number of libel suits brought 
against newspapers is comparatively small. The newspaper- 
man seeks the truth, a fact conceded by the tribunals of justice, 
and the average newspaper is printed for the enlightenment 
of the community. 

But this is not all. It is expected that a newspaper shall 
be a distinct benefit to those within the sphere of its influence, 
and it usually is. There are some bad newspapers, just as 
there are bad men, but even the worst newspapers are often 
productive of good. The average newspaper, published for the 
profits there may be in it, seeks out wrongs and endeavors to 
right them, and even though the motive may be anything but 
a philanthropic one the results are beneficial. The preacher, 
through the newspaper, talks to hundreds of thousands, where- 
as his address is delivered to an audience of but a few hundred ; 
the public spirited man can secure the attention of the nation 
through the medium of the public prints; thievery, jobbery and 
" graft" are laid bare, and the criminals are punished because 
of publicity. The reformers find the newspapers their best and 
truest allies. 

Now as to the newspaper as a business enterprise. The 
more successful in a financial way a paper may be, the greater 
its influence for real good. Men cannot get out newspapers 
for nothing. Its costs money to run a paper. News costs 
money; the payroll is big; the plant absorbs cash like a sponge 
does water ; the publisher cannot turn around without paying 
for the privilege. The counting-room is the lungs of a news- 
paper; without it the paper could not breathe, and would 
soon, as the doctor says, die of heart failure. 



494 best Thoughts of best thinkers. 

There are a thousand things about the management and 
the production of a really good paper that cannot be enumerated 
within this short space, but it is sufficient to say that it is so 
hard to publish a great city journal that, to the uniniated and 
unknowing outsider, it seems ridiculously easy. 



SOME POINTS ABOUT NEWSPAPERS. 
By Whitelaw Reid. 

It is a mistake to suppose that the one-cent newspapers 
gained their main support by drawing away the old patrons 
of the high-priced journals. What they chiefly did was first 
to induce many of these to read an extra paper, and next to 
find new classes of readers. A famous New York editor long 
ago was complimented on his news-gathering, and then asked 
why he did not take pains to show an equal superiority on his 
editorial page. " Damn your fine writing," was the curt re^ 
ply : " The Smasher is written for men that can't read !" In 
the sense he meant, the cheap press soon came to' be largely 
aimed at " men that can't read," or at least at men who had 
not been habitual and regular readers of the high-priced daily 
papers. 

But these men would not buy even the cheapest news- 
paper every day unless it interested them. The bait must be 
something in the line of their existing tastes and appetites. 
The newspaper that interested them must put things plain and 
strong. If there has been a murder it must not blink a single 
ghastly detail. If there has been a defalcation, the language 
about the defaulter must be red hot, particularly if he has 
heretofore led a respectable life or been a church member. 
The paper must evince as relentless a curiosity about his family 
and his antecedents as the most eager gossip in the little local 
circle that knew him; and it must display an artistic pride in 
detailing and parading its discoveries in the most appetizing 
and suggestive way. 



POINTS ABOUT NEWSPAPERS. 495 

Most people like to see their names in print — at least 
while the sensation remains a novelty. Most people can like- 
wise bear criticism of their neighbors with composure — 
especially if it is racy and not too ill-natured. It was obvious, 
then, that in developing new strata of readers for cheap daily 
newspapers the editor could play successfully and almost in- 
cessantly upon these two chords of human nature. The ap- 
petite thus encouraged soon craved yet greater supplies, so 
that the average American publisher is now nearly right when 
he says that in practically taking the roof off the house of 
everybody of any note, and in filling other parts of his paper 
with inane " social" or other mention of people of note, he 
does not even yet satisfy the hunger and thirst for personali- 
ties which fairly possess large classes of the community. 

It is only candid to add, too 1 , that this appetite often fas- 
tens upon unsuspecting victims. Many a good man looks one 
way and rows another ; leaves the decorous paper he praises at 
the breakfast table with his family and picks up the one sur- 
charged with personal tattle and sensation at the news stand, 
" just to see what scandal is stirring," on his way down town. 
The number of men who* cannot restrain their curiosity about 
what is in the newspapers they disapprove of and so become 
regular patrons, is a positive revelation to the moralist who 
ventures to look into it. 

It is distinctly to the advantage of every community that 
its serious and trusted papers should be rich and prosperous. 
The community's interests then are their interests. What 
helps everybody helps them, and they have no need of any 
other kind of help. Their first inquiry when any new propo- 
sition is presented is naturally whether it is or is not in the 
public interest. Their assistance can be confidently assumed 
for every good cause. It is also to the advantage of the com- 
munity if the owners of these papers are strong enough to be 
independent of immediate returns. There is many a popular 
flurry when a strong newspaper can render the greatest service 
by resisting the sudden gust, at whatever cost, and patiently 
biding its time. More than one newspaper whose fame is a 
part of our American inheritance would have had a less envia- 



49^ B£ST THOUGHTS OF B£ST THINKERS. 

ble record if it had been without money in its purse when it 
faced angry subscribers or discontented advertisers, or both, 
and defiantly told them, in the memorable words of a New 
York merchant, that its goods were for sale, but not its prin- 
ciples. 

But this pecuniary strength is less helpful to the com- 
munity when the newspapers, however strong, are owned by 
millionaires, or by combinations of capitalists whose connec- 
tion is more or less secret, and who make this investment of 
their money primarily for the influence they think it may give 
them in some way in the furtherance of their personal ends. 

The best reason for owning a newspaper is because a man 
likes the vocation, feels some fitness for it, has a high con- 
viction of its influence and opportunity, for good, deliberately 
prefers it, as under such circumstances he well may, to any 
of the professions, and wishes to make it the business of 'his 
life. Then everything is plain and above board. His re- 
lation to the community and the policy his paper advocates is 
established and perfectly understood. The journal becomes, 
if successful, one of the fixed public institutions of the city, 
as much as the City Hall, and often immeasurably more 
useful. 

The worst reason for owning a newspaper — from the 
point of view of the public interest — is because a man thinks 
it must then grind his axes, while he remains in the back- 
ground. And the next worst condition of newspaper owner- 
ship is when a young man without capital persuades a num- 
ber of ambitious business men and politicians to subscribe a 
capital for him, and is thus secretly committed to grinding 
axes in turn for any or all of them. 

It is safe to predict that the better class of daily news- 
papers and their readers will come to a mutual understanding 
so that less quantity and better quality will be found mutually 
advantageous. " The Saturday Review " once called Macau- 
lay the father of picturesque reporters, and Dickens has often 
been called their prince. No doubt these are ambitious models; 
but the press that sent MacGahan to a European war and 
Harding Davis and Bigelow to an American one, and has de- 



POINTS ABOUT NEWSPAPERS. 497 

veloped so many of our most popular authors from its ranks, 
can rise above the present wordy and tedious level of telling 
the news whenever the editors and their readers agree that it 
is desirable. In that direction lies one of the best hopes for 
the future of the best newspapers. Fewer words, shorter 
stories, better told; fewer $18 a week reporters, who only write 
by main strength and awkwardness, and more men who have 
learned the capacities of the English tongue ; fewer men whose 
chief idea is to rake in all the rubbish they can and label it 
with startling headlines, and more men who* know what is 
worth telling and know how to single it out from the mass 
of rubbish ; fewer mere photographers in nonpareil whose sole 
idea is to set down in fine type everything they see, and more 
artists who< know what to see and how to* make, in words, a 
picture of it — that is the line of progress for an intelligent 
press, worthy of an intelligent community. But first of all, 
the public must make up its mind that the merits of a paper, 
its enterprise, its resources and its importance are not deter- 
mined by the number of its pages — that paper is made out 
of cordwood and costs two cents a pound ; that type is set by 
steam, and that white sheets can be run through printing ma- 
chines in any number you want in any big Oiffice at the rate of 
100,000 an hour v If the people continue to want quantity, 
as they certainly seem to do now, the quantity will no» doubt 
continue to be printed — though Sheridan's ghost should hiss 
in every editor's ear that easy printing, even more than easy 
writing, makes curst hard reading. 

These suggestions may seem to 1 partake more of preach- 
ing than of prophecy. It is for the public, quite as much as 
for the newspapers or for the young men who are now com- 
ing forward to make them, to> determine whether, when 
grouped, they portray at all the newspaper of the next quarter 
or half century. We shall have fewer sensational papers, 
and get the news told more as a landscape is painted, with 
some sense oif perspective and some artistic omission of of- 
fensive or worthless objects, whenever and as far as the pub- 
lic taste is well enough educated to prefer a correct and viva- 
cious style to " blood and thunder " written and printed as if 



49& BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

with a paint brush. We shall surely have shorter reports of 
many things, if not also smaller papers. The notion that Sun- 
day's paper must be ten times as big as Monday's will be miti- 
gated. The first class daily paper of the future is not likely, 
to come in the form of a book, or even a pamphlet. Whatever 
its form or quality or contents, the people that read it will pay 
for it — it will not be an eleemosynary institution, chiefly 
conducted by the advertising business of the country for the 
benefit of anybody that will read. Its wealth and prosperity 
will be welcomed as a gain and security for the whole com- 
munity. It will indulge in no sham about being independent 
of business considerations. It will be best liked when its 
owners conduct it, and least when its owners, engaged else- 
where, make their newspaper investment as a means of sur- 
reptitiously furthering private ends. It will not be intensely 
individualized — will not be a one man paper. It will support 
parties as a means to a patriotic end, and religion as leading 
to the best life; but it will not be a party organ or an organ 
of the churches. It will deal with politics according to its 
capacity; but, not being edited by angels, it will make mis- 
takes sometimes, and perhaps have even the grace sometimes 
to acknowledge them. 

The average newspaper man on the great dailies is far 
better educated to-day than twenty years ago, but the stand- 
ard of qualifications is likely in the next twenty to be higher 
still. Like most of my colleagues on the press, I have gen- 
erally had little faith in " schools of journalism," or in 
" courses of journalism," or, if you must have the truth, in 
lectures on journalism, either. The real place to learn the 
newspaper business is in a newspaper office, and you have to 
be caught tolerably young to learn it at all. But the place to 
acquire some of the qualifications for the work is the place 
where you can get the best general education the world affords. 
Above all, it must be an education that teaches you to see 
straight and to think straight, and therefore its very foundation 
must not be undermined by too eager a search for easy elec- 
tives. 



POINTS ABOUT NEWSPAPERS. 499 

We may next look for whatever will facilitate wide ac- 
quisition and persuasive expression. You must first know 
things, and know where to find things, and next know how 
to interest people in your way of telling these things, and in 
your reasoning about them. Knowledge, real knowledge, not 
a smattering of the history of your country, is indispensable, 
and no historical knowledge will come amiss. Constitutional 
and international law, at least, you must know, and if you 
can take a full law course, so much the better. Modern lan- 
guages will be most helpful, and in our great newspapers a 
reading knowledge of at least three of them, French, German 
and Spanish, becomes every year more desirable. The litera- 
ture of your own language should be studied until you learn 
to use the noble tongue to express to the best advantage and in 
the fewest words whatever you have to say. You should know 
your own country, and, above all, grasp intelligently the fact 
that the part worth knowing is not confined to a narrow strip 
along the Atlantic coast. You should know foreign coun- 
tries, and thus chasten the notions that wisdom began with us, 
and that liberty and intelligence hardly exist elsewhere. You 
should know the people, the plain, everyday, average man, 
the man in the street — his condition, his needs, his ideas, 
his notions — and you should learn early that he is not likely 
to be overpowered by your condescension when you attempt 
to reason with him. 

Finally, let me remind you that the man who succeeds is 
a man who has not undervalued what he is undertaking. This 
work we have considered is as varied, as exacting, and as re- 
sponsible as any known toi our modern civilization, if not also 
the most potential for good or ill. It calls for patience, for 
moderation, for quick and accurate perception, for deliberate 
judgment, for resolute purpose and for what the politicians 
call staying power. No man who cannot, like the pugilist, 
" take punishment/' has any business in it. No man who; lets 
his nerves or his passions run away with his ice cold judgment 
has any business in it. 

But to him who is called, the opportunity is ( beyond 
estimate. To him are given the keys of every study, the entry 



50O BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

to every family, the ear of every citizen when at ease and in 
his most receptive moods — powers of approach and of per- 
suasion beyond those of the Protestant pastor or the Catholic 
confessor. He is by no means a prophet, but, reverently be 
it said, he is a voice in the wilderness preparing the way. He 
is by no means a priest, but his words carry wider and farther 
than the priest's, and he preaches the gospel of humanity. He 
is not a king, but he nurtures and trains the king, and the land 
is ruled by the public opinion he evokes and shapes. If you 
value this good land the Lord has given us; if you would 
have a soul in this marvelous civilization and a lifting power 
for humanity, look well to the nurture and training of your 
king. 



WHEN THE PRESIDENTS DIED. 5OI 



WHEN THE PRESIDENTS DIED. 

A fraction less than one-third of all the Presidents of 
the United States, not counting ex-President Cleveland nor 
President Roosevelt, have died in the month of July. Those 
who met their fate in this month were Jefferson and Adams 
(July 4, 1826), Monroe (July 4, 1831), Van Buren (July 
24, 1862), Taylor (July 9, 1850), Johnson ((July 31, 1875), 
and Grant (July 23, 1885). Four others, Madison, Jackson, 
Polk and Buchanan, died in June. Therefore half of all the 
presidents died in those two* months. 

The following list may be of interest in this connection : 

PRESIDENTS. NATIVITY. BORN. DIED. AGE. 

1. Washington Washington P'sh. Va. Feb. 22, 1732 Dec. 14, 1799 67 

2. Adams Braintree, Mass Oct. iq, 1735 July 4, 1826 91 

3. Jefferson .Albemarle Co., Va....Apr. 13, 1743 July 4, 1826 83 

4. Madison Port Conway. Va Mar. 16, 1751 Jun, 28, 1836 85 

5. Monroe Westmoreland, Va. ..Apr. 28, 1758 July 4, 1831 73 

6. Adams Braintree, Mass July 11, 1767 Feb. 23, 1846 81 

7. Jackson Waxhaw Set'mt. N. C-Mar. 15, 1767 Jun. 8, 1845 78 

8. Van Buren Kinderhook, N. Y....Dec. 5, 1782 July 24, 1862 80 

9. Harrison Berkeley, Va Feb. 9, 1773 Apr. 4, 1841 68 

10. Tyler Charles Co., Va Mar. 29, 1790 Jan. 17, 1862 72 

11. Polk Mecklenburg, N. C.Nov. 2, 1795 Jun. 15, 1849 54 

12. Taylor Orange Co., Va Sep. 24, 1784 July 9, 1853.. — 69 

13. Fillmore Summer Hill, N. Y...Feb. 7, 1800 Mar. 8, 1874 74 

14. Pierce Hillsborough, N. H..Nov. 23, 1804 Oct. 8, 1869 65 

15. Buchanan Mercersburg, Pa Apr. 23, 1791 June 1, 1868 77 

16. Lincoln Nr. Hodgensville, Ky.Feb. 12, 1809.. . Apr. 14, 1865 56 

17- Johnson Raleigh, N. C Dec. 29, 1808. .'. July 31, 1875 67 

18. Grant Pt. Pleasant, O Apr. 27, 1822 July 23, 1885 63 

19. Hayes Delaware, O Oct. 4, 1822 Jan. 17, 1893 70 

20. Garfield Orange, O Nov. 19, 1831 Sep. 19, 1881 50 

2 r. Arthur Fairfield, Vt Oct. 5, 1830 Nov. 18, 1886 56 

22. Cleveland Caldwell, N. J Mar. 18, 1837 

23. Harrison North Bend, O Aug. 20, 1833 Mar. 13, 1901 67 

24. Cleveland Caldwell, N. J Mar. 18, 1837 

25. McKinley Niles, O Jan. 29, 1843 Sep. 14, 1901 S& 

26. Roosevelt New York City Oct. 27, 1858 

The oldest president at the time of his death was John 
Adams (91), and the youngest, James A. Garfield (50). 

The average age of the twenty-three presidents on their 
death was nearly sixty-nine and two-thirds years, and of the 
twenty who died from natural causes, exactly seventy--two 
years. 



502 BEST THOUGHTS 0? BEST THINKERS. 



THE RACE PROBLEM. 
By Booker T. Washington. 

There are certain visible signs of civilization and strength 
which the world demands that each individual or race exhibit 
before it is taken seriously into consideration in the affairs of 
the world. Unless these visible evidences of ability and 
strength are forthcoming, mere abstract talking and mere 
claiming of " rights " amount to little. This is a principle 
that is as broad and old as the world and is not confined to 
the conditions that exist between the white man and the black 
man in the South. We may be inclined to exalt intellectual 
acquirements over the material, but all will acknowledge that 
the possession of the material has an influence that is lasting 
and unmistakable. As one goes through our Western states 
and sees the Scandinavians in Minnesota, for example, own- 
ing and operating nearly one-third of the farms in the state; 
and then as he goes through one of the cities of Minnesota 
and sees block after block of brick stores owned by these 
Scandinavians; as he sees factories and street railways owned 
and operated by these same people, and as he notes that as a 
rule, these people live in neat, well-kept cottages where there 
are refinement and culture, on nice streets, that have been paid 
for, he can't help but have confidence in and respect for such 
people, no matter how he has been educataed to feel regarding* 
them. The material, visible and tangible elements in this case 
teach a lesson that almost nothing else can. It may be said in 
opposition to this view that this is exalting too high the ma- 
terial side of life. I do not take this view. Let us see what 
is back of this material possession. In the first place, the poss- 
ession of property is an evidence of mental discipline, mental 
grasp and control. It is an evidence of self-sacrifice. It is an 
evidence of economy. It is an evidence of thrift and industry. 



THE RACE PROBLEM. 503 

It is an evidence of fixedness of character and purpose. It is 
an evidence of interest in pure and intelligent government, 
for no man can possess property without having the deepest 
interest in all that pertains to local and national government. 
The black man who owns $50,000 worth of property in a 
town is going to think a good many times before he votes for 
the officer who will have the liberty of taxing his property. 
If he thinks that a colored law-maker will use his taxing 
power wrongfully, he is not likely to vote for him merely for 
the sentimental reason that he is a black man. The black man 
who owns $50,000 worth of property in a town is not likely 
to continue to vote for a republican law-maker if he knows that 
a democratic one will bring lower taxes and better protection 
to his property. Say or think what we will, there is but one 
way for the Negro to get up and that is for him to pay the cost, 
and when he has paid the cost — paid the price of his freedom 
— it will appear in the beautiful, well-kept home, in the in- 
creasing bank account, in the farm and crops that are free 
from debt, in the ownership oif railroad and municipal stocks 
and bonds (and he who owns the majority of stock in a rail- 
road will not have to ride in a " Jim Crow car"), in the well- 
kept store, in the well-fitted laundry, in the absence of mere 
superficial display. These are a few of the universal and in- 
disputable signs of the highest civilization and the NegR> must 
possess them or be debarred. All mere abstract talk about 
the possibility of possessing them or his intention to possess 
them counts for little. He must actually possess them and 
the only way to possess them is to possess them. From every 
standpoint of interest it is the duty of the Negro himself, and 
the duty of the Southern white man as well as the white man 
in the North, to see that the Negro be helped forward as fast 
as possible towards the possession of these evidences of civili- 
zation. How can it best be done? Where is the beginning 
to be made ? It can be done by the Negro beginning right now 
and where he finds himself. 

I repeal let the Negro begin right where he is, by putting 
the greatest amount of intelligence, skill and dignity, into the 
occupations by which he is surrounded. Let him learn to do 



504 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

common things in an uncommon manner. Wherever in the 
South, for example, the Negro is the carpenter, let him realize 
that he cannot remain the carpenter unless people are sure 
that no one can excel him as a carpenter. This black carpenter 
should strive every way possible to keep himself abreast of the 
best wood-work done in the world. He should be constantly 
studying the best journals and books bearing on carpentry. 
He should watch for every improvement in his line. When 
this carpenter's son is educated in college or elsewhere, he 
should see that his son studies mechanical and architectural 
drawing. He should not only have his son taught practical 
carpentry, but should see that in addition to his literary educa- 
tion, that he is a first class architect as well — that, if possible, 
he has an idea of landscape gardening and house furnishing. 
In a word, he should see that his son knows so much about 
wood work, house construction, and every thing that pertains 
to making a house all. that it should be, that his services are in 
constant demand. One such Negro in each community will 
give character to a hundred other Negroes. It is this kind 
of effort that will put the Negro on his feet. What I have 
said of carpentry, is equally true of dozens of occupations now 
within the Negro's hands. The second or third generation of 
this black man need not be carpenters, but can aspire success- 
fully to something higher because the foundation has been laid. 
It is not only the duty of the Negro to thus put himself 
in possession of the signs of civilization, but it is also the plain- 
est duty of the white man, North and South, to help the Negro 
to do so in a more generous manner than ever before. One- 
third of the population of the South is colored. Ignorance in 
any country or among any people, is the sign of poverty, crime 
and incompetency. No state can have the highest civilization 
and prosperity with one-third of its population down. This 
one-third will prove a constant millstone about the neck of the 
other two-thirds. Every one-room Negro cabin in the South, 
where there are ignorance, poverty and stupidity, is an ad- 
verse advertisement of the state, the bad effects of which no 
white man in the next generation can escape. 



HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF SUICIDE- 505 



HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF SUICIDE, 

By Hon. Henry C. White, LL. B., M. A., 
Probate Judge and Prof, of Medical Jurisprudence, 
Cleve'd. Homeo. Medical College. 

Love of life is one of two fundamental laws, or instincts, 
upon which the continuance of life is founded, the other being 
the procreative instinct. " Self-preservation is the first law 
of nature" is an old saying, based on a recognized foundation 
of truth and sound philosophy. 

D'r. Strahan, in his work on "Suicide and Insanity," asso- 
ciates these two fundamental instincts of all organic life. 
Without the procreative instinct, life would disappear with the 
death of the existing representatives of the families; without 
that of self-preservation, it is probable another generation 
would never appear, and if it did, it would immediately perish. 
This innate love of life is, in reality, a necessary part of life, 
and is proven by its universal co-existence with life. The all- 
pervading character of this instinctive straining after life is 
not fully recognized. It is not an attribute to animal life 
alone, but is also equally strongly developed all through organic 
mature, even to the lower forms of vegetable life. The indi- 
vidual, therefore, in whom the love of life is wanting is incom- 
plete or abnormal. The continuance of life, either as to the indi- 
vidual or the races, and the absence of a desire to live, are 
incompatible. If the desire for life fades, death approaches. 
Everywhere that life is met with in a healthy or normal 
condition, it is invariably found co-existing with this instinct, 
Which is often so strongly developed as to overshadow every 
other natural desire. And the absence of this fundamental 
instinct is per se proof of unfitness to live. 



506 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

From the foregoing* physiological truth it is evident that 
the statement that "the suicide dies because he is unfit for 
life" is absolutely true. This rule is applicable to the great 
majority of suicides of today, but it cannot be said to include 
all who seek voluntary death. What then does suicide really 
mean ? There is a class of self-destroyers, so-called suicides — 
happily small in the present day — who do not come within the 
definition of true suicide. Such people destroy their lives for 
one oif two reasons : either they have upon consideration come 
to the conclusion that death is the most acceptable of impend- 
ing evils, one of which must be embraced, or they wish to gain, 
by their self-destruction, something they consider much more 
valuable than the life forfeited. 

These quasi-suicides, as they should be called, make up 
but a small proportion of the suicides of modern western civi- 
lization. They formed the great bulk of voluntary deaths 
among the ancient Greeks and Romans under the teachings of 
the storic and epicurean philosophers, as they did among the 
ancient Jews, the Asiatics and the Norsemen. Suicides, there- 
fore, naturally fall into two great classes : First — rational ; 
and second, irrational. In one, the reason of the individual is 
called upon to decide between death and a continuance of life, 
and chooses the former; in the other the individual is impelled 
to destroy his life by an innate craving, or instinct, by what 
seems to be an uncontrollable impulse, or by the unhealthy 
reasoning of a disordered intellect. 

The suicidal instinct may be defined as one of the signs of 
a markedly degenerate condition of the human organism, 
brought about by any or all of the thousand and one deterio- 
rating influences at work among civilized communities, fore- 
most among which must be placed the deliberate disregard of, 
and studied interference with, the laws of nature. 

The immorality of the practice of suicide in ancient times 
was not a sign of intellectual degeneration. It was advocated 
by the leading philosophers and statesmen of antiquity as a 
just, rational and commendable way to escape the pain or dis- 
grace, or even inconvenience of living. It is a; remarkable 



HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF SUICIDE- S°7 

historical fact, however, that in the simpler and purer life of 
Greece and Rome suicide was condemned. In ancient Athens 
the suicide was buried after sunset, his hand severed from the 
body and separately buried as the offending member, and con- 
fiscation of goods and disgrace and ignominy covered the 
memory of the self-destroyer. In the early days of the Roman 
republic the practice of suicide was equally reprehensible. Pub- 
lic law denounced it, and public opinion was strongly set 
against it. 

With the rise of the philosophic schools, and the corrup- 
tion and decay of morals, consequent upon the prevalence of 
luxury and the ostentation of manners among these early 
people, the sentiment of opposition to self-immolation began 
to decline, and finally faded out entirely. Both the adherents 
of the stoic and epicurean philosophy advocated suicide as a 
commendable cult. The stoic was taught to believe his life his 
own; that he was sole arbiter of his existence, and that he 
could live or die as he pleased. The same principles were 
inculcated by the epicurean philosophy. Seneca, the tutor of 
emperorSj and the philosopher who taught mankind morality 
of a high order, for any age, defended suicide. He said : 
"Does life please you? Live om. Does it not? Go from 
whence you came. No vast wound is necessary ; a mere punc- 
ture will secure your liberty. It is a bad thing (you say) to 
be under the necessity of living; but there is no necessity in 
the case. Thanks be to the gods, nobody can be compelled to 
live." Epictetus, the learned freed'man, said: "If you like 
not life, you may leave it; the door is open; get you gone! 
But a little smoke ought not to frighten you away ; it should 
be endured, and will thereby be often surmounted." The 
strong and constant advocates of the right and duty of self- 
destruction, where the inclination existed were Zeno, Plato, 
Cleanthes, Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Pliny, 
and a host of others. 

Most of the great men of ancient Europe died by their 
own hands. The roster of distinguished suicides in the an- 
tique world is written in imperishable characters on the 



508 B£3T THOUGHTS 0^ B£ST THINKERS. 

enduring monuments of fame. In this way died Lycurgus, 
Themistodes, Demosthenes, Aristarchus, Cato, Brutus, Cas- 
sius, Mark Antony, Lucian, Seneca, Nero and Otho, and a 
long line of others, who sought and gained immortality as 
statesmen, philosophers and soldiers. 

Recognizing the impossibility of preventing those who 
wished to die carrying out their desire, and hoping in some 
degree to limit self-destruction by legalizing it under certain 
conditions, both Greeks and Romans instituted tribunals for 
the hearing of the application of those who wished to' die. If 
the applicant showed what the court considered good cause for 
quitting life, his prayer was granted, and he destroyed himself 
with* the sanction of the court. In some cases the court not 
only parsed a favorable sentence, but supplied the means of 
death in a decoction of hemlock. Sir Thomas More, in his 
"Utopia," suggested a system almost identical with this. 
Roman law, as codified and commented on by Justinian as 
late as the sixth century, held that suicide was justifiable if it 
arose from toedum vitas — "disgust of life." The justifiable 
specific causes were grief at loss of friends ; to escape disgrace 
of insolvency; bodily suffering or disease; and when the act 
arose from madness. 

It is a remarkable fact that none of the prophets or reli- 
gious leaders of antiquity, with the single exception of Mo- 
hammed, forbade suicide. There has been much thought 
expended on the moral and social side of self-destruction. 
Such modern writers as Hume, Gibbon, Donne, Madam De- 
Stael, Voltaire, Winslow, Schopenhauer, and many others, ' 
have treated the subject in all its moral phases, and it must be 
admitted that the discussion is often quite unfruitful. 

Another author, Dr. O'D'ea, in his work on "Suicide, its 
Philosophy, Causes and Prevention," adopts a contrary method 
of treatment. The fundamental theory of his discussion is, 
"that suicide Has reference to the individual, viewed in the 
two-fold aspect of his social and personal life." It presup- 
poses two necessary conditions : 



HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF SUICIDK. 509 

1. Moral and physical impressions derived from with- 
out. 

2. A nervous impressibility which magnifies and dis- 
torts these impressions, giving them a dangerous power to 
affect his happiness. He classifies the causes of suicide under 
two grand heads : First — external and social ; second — inter- 
nal and personal. 

It must be said that this author has produced a work rich 
in the historical and etiological phases of the subject. His 
chapters on the Prevention of Suicide are reasonable, forcible 
and timely. 

Morselli states, what is doubtless true, that the vast multi- 
plication of the wants, duties and struggles of the complex 
and artificial life of modern days is responsible for the enor- 
mous increase of suicides. He says : "The certainty of the 
figures and the regularity of the progressive increase of suicide 
is such and so great, even in respect to countries different in 
race, religion and number of inhabitants, that it is not possible 
to explain it otherwise than as an effect of that universal 
uplifting process which we call civilisation/' It is true never- 
theless that the present moral standards of society and the 
moral consensus of mankind are not in favor of self-destruc- 
tion. The tendency of this same enlightened civilization is to 
establish the individual's tenure of life upon the theory that 
he holds it in responsible trust, rather than by absolute title; 
that to seek to escape the responsibilities of this present exis- 
tence, by his own hand, is cowardly, unmanly and in every 
way sacreligious and reprehensible. 

During the Napoleonic wars an epidemic of suicide sprung 
up in a certain corps of the army. The great captain, who 
was so profoundly wise in all human motives, stayed the 
ravages of this epidemic by an appeal to that virtue of cour- 
age which was the supreme passion of the French soldier. 
Napoleon made the following order : " The First Consul 
directs that it shall be notified in the order of the day of the 
Guard, that a soldier ousrht to know how to overcome the 



5*0 best Thoughts of bes? thinkers. 

grief and melancholy of his passions; that there is as much 
true courage in bearing mental affliction manfully, as in 
remaining unmoved under the fire of a battery. To abandon 
one's self to grief without resisting, and to kill one's self in 
order to escape from it, is like abandoning the field of battle 
before being conquered." 

Peace hath her battles and her victories, as well as war. 
Why not inculcate this same heroic sentiment of fortitude 
and courage to overcome the evils and besetments of every 
day civil life? 

It would be aside from my purpose to enter further into 
the history or moral aspects of the subject. At the close I 
shall venture to submit some suggestions on the uses of educa- 
tion and the creation of public opinion, as deterrents of suicide. 

In what follows, I wish to call attention mainly, 

First : To the Relation of Suicide and Insanity, and 

Secondly: Suicide in its relations to Life Insurance. 

It has been remarked that savage people, living in a 
natural state, rarely exhibit this self-destructive tendency. 
The unbearable pains of hunger, or the stress of religious 
fanaticism, may lead to self-immolation. In natural life, how- 
ever, the weak, defective or abnormal individual does not have 
to resort to suicide ; these classes of degenerates are eliminated 
by the natural process of selection by which the fittest only 
survives. With such races it is only a step above the course 
of nature among the lower order of animals. The deformed, 
the lame, the wounded, or infirm in the herd or flock, are 
mercilessly turned upon by the stronger, self-selected indi- 
vidual who, as a stern executioner, under the inexorable law 
of nature, puts an end to the feeble ones unfitted to cope with 
life. Civilization reverses this order among men. With us 
the blind, deaf, dumb, idiotic, insane, epileptic, and suicidal, 
among countless others of the unfit, instead of disappearing, 
are reared with care. The hypondriachal and melancholic 
who are totally indifferent as to life, are forced to live bv the 



HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF" SUICIDE. 5H 

attention of their fellows. And all these weaklings are per- 
mitted, and at times even induced to contaminate the race by 
the propagation of their unfitness. In this way, from the 
hypochondriac who tells you that life is a curse, and from the 
melancholic who can survive only with occasional care in a 
lunatic asylum — we deliberately cultivate the still more degen- 
erate type, in which the parents' vital indifference is replaced 
by an active desire for death. By care and attention worthy 
of a nobler cause, even these are protected against themselves 
when impelled by nature to quit the life to which they are 
constitutionally unfitted, and are freely permitted, in the inter- 
vals between their suicidal outbursts, to beget a still more 
degraded stock. In this last crop of degraded humanity, we 
find a profusion of suicides, epileptics, maniacs, drunkards, 
and other depraved creatures, who never could, by any possi- 
bility, have been bred under natural conditions. 

How far is insanity responsible for the majority of sui- 
cides? It is undoubtedly true that the proportion of suicides 
due to mental aberration is increasing. 

Self-destruction, as a practice, is increasing with fearful 
rapidity. It has increased at the rate of thirty-three per cent, 
in the last twenty-five years in England ; and at a rate of more 
than forty-five per cent, in America in the same period. You 
can scarcely take up your morning paper in any large city 
without noting the account of a suicide. Not all this enormous 
increase is based on an insane diathesis; much of it must be 
attributed to the waste and wear of our grinding, harassing, 
competitive life, where so often in the race for subsistence 
men and women are hounded by a gaunt and wolfish pack of 
cares. Poverty, extreme and unendurable, assailed by that 
consuming passion for physical comforts and the pride of pos- 
session, so characteristic of our American life, is chargeable 
with hundreds upon hundreds of acts of self-destruction. 

It was recognized from very early times that under ordi- 
nary circumstances the insane were more liable to self-destruc- 
tion than the general population; but none of the ancient 
writers treated all suicides as insane. One of the greatest 



5 J 2 B£ST THOUGHTS 0£ BEST THINKERS. 

alienists of Europe, early in the century, laid down the propo- 
sition that all suicides were insane. This was Esquirol, whom 
so many subsequent scientists have blindly copied in this con- 
clusion. The argument is, that an act so repugnant to the 
natural instinct of self-preservation must be due to insanity. 

In 1840 the first edition of a work which attracted wide 
attention was given to the English-speaking public by Dr. 
Forbes Winslow, who became a highly celebrated neurologist 
and master of pathologic psychology. His volume is entitled 
"The Anatomy of Suicide." He is almost the only noted 
Englishman who advocates the invariable insanity of the sui- 
cide. He has no patience with the practice of self-destruction, 
and denounces it as always a "crime against God and man." 
He says : "It is a safe doctrine always to presume the presence 
of insanity in those who have exhibited a desire to commit 
suicide." 

The inconsistency of denouncing suicide as a crime "high 
up in the black catalogue of human offenses" and yet holding 
to the position that every suicide is an irresponsible lunatic, 
is patent to all. The trouble of accounting for the act, always 
on the theory of the presence of insanity, arises out of the 
difficulty of uniting on a universal working definition of 
"insanity." 

Without a generally recognized definition, no hypothesis 
of insanity can be made rationally to account for every case; 
indeed, those who make this postulate, are influenced much by 
the popular notion created by that practice of long standing in 
England, of judicially finding a verdict of "temporary insan- 
ity" in every coroner's inquest for suicide. This verdict is 
rendered so that the poor victim may receive Christian burial, 
and his heirs not be subject to the forfeiture of estate, accord- 
ing to the established rule of the common law of England. It 
is probably true that the belief in the invariable existence of 
insanity in the suicide was the outgrowth of the reaction 
against this inhuman treatment of the victim and his family. 
The amelioration of these harsh customs was due to that great 
upheaval and revolt against monarchical institutions, and vio- 



HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF SUICIDE. 5 13 

lent clamor for human rights — the French revolution. This 
sentimental charity is reflected by Madame DeStael in the first 
sentences of her Essay on Suicide: " It is for the unhappy 
we should write, since to the children of prosperity experience 
is the only instructor, and by them all general ideas are con- 
sidered as futile and unprofitable. It is otherwise with the 
afflicted; reflection is their best, if not their only asylum; 
insulated by adversity from the distractions of the world, they 
look into their own hearts with the solicitude of the sick man, 
who lies tossing on his bed of pain, to discover some position 
in which his sufferings may be mitigated. * * * It would 
be cruel to hold up to detestation those who are wretched 
enough to loath existence; it would be unjust to praise those 
who shrink from the duties it imposes; to bear the burden 
however great, is the test of strength and the triumph of 
magnanimity." 

O'Dea sets down a third as the proportion of suicides 
insane, but attributes another third to what he calls "latent 
insanity." The correct proportion is probably not greater than 
25 per cent, of the typically insane suicides. The variation of 
proportions is due to the varying value put upon the evidence 
of insanity offered at inquests. If we must have delusions, 
incoherent language, purposeless, or wildly extravagant acts, 
imbecility, or utter vacuity to constitute insanity, then the 
lowest estimate of from eighteen to twenty per cent, is too 
high. But if we are to include among the insane, those who 
have been depressed and melancholic; those who leave clear 
coherent letters saying that they are tired of life, that they are 
dying to join lovers or other departed friends; that they are 
about to give way to an impulse which they have long fought 
against, but now find irresisible; and also those who may 
reasonably be assumed to have given way to an instantaneous 
impulse from the fact that no rational or reasonable cause for 
an act can be discovered, then, to include all these as insane — 
aberrant suicides would reach 90 or 95 per cent. 

Of the truly insane who commit suicide, the majority are 
melancholiacs. In these cases the melancholia may be the cause 



514 BKST THOUGHTS Otf B£ST THINKERS. 

of the suicide, or the suicidal impulse may have existed first 
and been the cause of the melancholia. In many cases of mel- 
ancholia, the terrible depression which falls upon the mind and 
embitters existence, almost beyond endurance, is for a con- 
siderable time free from any suicidal desire. The time comes 
however, when the misery of existing, the dull pain of living, 
becomes more than can be borne, and the sufferer is driven to 
choose between two 1 evils — perpetual torment or relief in death. 
In these cases the miserable victim has neither delusion nor 
hallucination, and his intellect is clear and perfect as it ever 
was. To him life is a long drawn out agony, and his gloom 
is no more insanity than is the irritability of the old gentleman 
with the gout in his great toe. 

There is another class, that of the insane melancholiac, 
who, in addition to the mental depression, suffer from distinct 
mental alienation. The suicide of these is the result of delu- 
sions. They believe themselves guilty of some grievous of- 
fense, or unpardonable sin; they destroy life as an atonement, 
or are driven to it by some supernatural voice or direction. 

Suicide is not often associated with acute mania. Some- 
times during the onset of the maniacal fury, the patient may 
inflict injury on himself by dashing himself against a wall, or 
throwing himself down a stairway, or otherwise wounding 
himself. But such wild tumult of destruction is not the settled 
impulse of suicide. There is one transitory form of mania in 
which, self-destruction is often effected — that is, mania con- 
nected with epileptic seizures. Not infrequently the victim of 
epileptic insanity, while unconscious of his surroundings, will 
destroy himself. Dementia contributes few cases of suicide. 
Senile dementia coming on at that period when the sands of 
life are nearly run, may be accompanied with that 
half-conscious indifference of life, which will lead to suicide. 
But dementia is often too inert and passive to furnish num- 
erous cases of suicide. The idiotic very rarely destroy them- 
selves. 

There is a recognized form of abnormal mental or moral 
tendency called 



HISTORICAL ASPECTS OE SUICIDE. 515 

THE SUICIDAL IMPULSE. 

To this we must attribute the great majority of insane 
suicides. 

This condition exists in two distinct forms. First, the 
"instantaneous impulse." In this case the onset of impulse is 
so sudden and overwhelming, that it paralyzes the will on the 
instant, and is immediately acted on. As a local illustration of 
this species of destructive impulse, I remember well facts 
stated by the late Dr. Proctor Thayer, when testifying in a 
case of insanity. A healthy, strong man, in middle life, a 
butcher, carrying on a meat market, while at his shop, having 
cut a steak for a customer, suddenly drew his knife across his 
throat, and died instantly. In the second the growing impulse 
develops and is experienced for a time, until it becomes strong 
enough to over-master the will and destroy freedom of action. 

The first of these forms of impulsive suicidal mania is 
often aggravated, or incited by. the sight of the means or 
opportunity for self-destruction. The sight of a razor, or 
pistol. Looking over an appalling or dizzy height. The first 
view on near approach, of the sublime and awful plunge of 
waters at Niagara — these situations may suddenly awaken 
this dormant impulse. Sir Samuel Romilly, the renowned 
English jurist, was a noted victim of this impulse. Under the 
stress of the instantaneous seizure, he gave himself a mortal 
wound, and almost as suddenly the spell passed, his conscious- 
ness returned and he endeavored in vain to stanch the fatal 
hemorrhage. 

"The sight of means to do ill deeds, makes ill deeds done." 

In not a few instances of this form of unpremeditated 
suicide, the person is thwarted in his purpose, or a fortunate 
accident prevents the fatal result. In many such cases the 
event becomes to the afflicted a horrible memory, and casts a 
shadow over the life which deepens into the true deliberate 
suicidal intent. Lord Clive, who> conquered India for England, 
was a noted example. Twice in early youth he made unsuc- 
cessful attempts upon his life. He passed his great career in 



5l6 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

India, amassed immense wealth and achieved enduring fame 
in a quarter of a century of his life, and died finally by his 
own hand at the age of fifty. 

The gradually developing desire for self-destruction is 
even more common than that just mentioned. First in such 
cases is noticed the disagreeable frequency with which the 
thoughts of suicide present themselves to the mind. The idea 
lingers and cannot be dismissed. Often the self-conscious 
victim of this pursuing phantom of death, appeals to intimate 
friends for protection against himself. When the growing 
impulse is appreciated, it sometimes produces a melancholy 
which cannot be shaken off. Sometimes the idea of suicide, 
at first repelled, then tolerated, finally becomes pleasurable to 
the poor victim, and is entertained in the mental consciousness 
as a welcome guest. 

Dr. Hammond says : "In seme cases of emotional mor- 
bid impulse to suicide, the contemplation of the act is attended 
with feelings of pleasure. A man kills himself because he 
wishes to do so ; and because of the satisfaction to be derived 
from gratifying his impulse. His intellect is net necessarily 
deranged: he acts with a full knowledge of what he is doing; 
and if the circumstances require it, he employs the most sys- 
tematic and recondite stratagems in order to accomplish his 
purpose. He is neither governed by delusions nor by logical 
reasons. He is simply actuated by a passion which it is pleas- 
ant for him to gratify.'' 

It would be interesting and not unprofitable to study the 
course of suicidal tendency as it is affected by slight provoca- 
tion; by age, and sex; climate and seasons; by the imitative 
faculty, or epidemic suicide- by religion, education and moral- 
ity ; and most of all by the inherited degeneracies. But such 
discussion would extend these notes beyond endurance. 

A peculiar line of interesting pathologic discussion might 
be suggested as to the correct treatment of the insane suicide. 
I will venture to give you one case where heroic measures 
were resorted to with good effect. It was related in a news- 



HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF SUICIDE- $1J 

paper some time ago that a Chicago policeman discovered a 
would-be suicide wading into the lake on the lake-front. The 
officer instantly commanded the man to desist and return, to 
which the suicide gave no heed, but waded on into 1 deeper 
water, whereupon the officer drew his revolver and threatened 
to fire if he did not stop. "Hold on, don't shoot," said the 
disconsolate victim, "I will come back," turning toward the 
shore. Thus we have another proof of that sublime thera- 
peutic truth, that "like cures like!" 



SUICIDE AND UFE INSURANCE. 

In nearly all policies of life insurance there is some pro- 
viso which tends to avoid the contract in case of the suicide of 
the policy holder. Sometimes this restriction extends over 
the entire life of the policy; but more generally limited to* the 
first year or two. Upon the interpretation of these clauses, 
almost unlimited judicial learning and unwearied skill has 
been expended. It has been held that "suicide, death by one's 
own hand," and "taking his own life," are synonymous, having 
the same legal significance. 54 Me., 224; 102 Mass., 227. 
If a policy is taken out by one in good faith, and he subse- 
quently commit suicide, there being no proviso against that 
act, the policy would not be voidable, especially not if the 
suicide were insane. In one case by the dicta of the judge, 
it was held that in that case the policy should be avoided be- 
cause of the fraud committed against the company. Where a 
policy contained a clause providing against the operation of 
the contract where death was the cause of any immoral act, 
it has been held that suicide is not such act and the policy holds 
good. In a case in New York, where a man who had become 
insolvent and lost his living for his family, deliberately pro- 
curing $282,000.00 of insurance in 36 different companies, 
being careful to see to it that there was no proviso against 
suicide, all with the deliberate purpose of afterward commit- 
ting suicide, for the express purpose of securing sufficient to 
pay his debts and make his family easy, it was held that the 



5l8 B£ST THOUGHTS OF BE)ST THINKERS. 

policies were all void because ' 'suicide was the ultimate agency 
by which fraud was accomplished." 123 N. Y., 85. 

If there is a proviso- in the policy against self-destruction, 
and the insured commits suicide, voluntarily and intentionally, 
while in the possession of his faculties, and conscious of the 
immoralities of the act, there is no difference of opinion ; under 
such circumstances the policy is avoided. It is otherwise 
where the act is purely accidental or unintentional, as in pois- 
oning by mistake, or accidental shooting, and wherever the 
act of self-destruction was unintentional. 85 N. Y., 320. 
The doctrine that the intentional, deliberate, and sane act of 
self-destruction by the insured, is such as to avoid the liability 
of a company, under the ordinary policy has finally been estab- 
lished by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United 
States. 

Where this proviso exists and the assured commits sui- 
cide, while insane, the determination of the question of avoid- 
ing the policy is different in different courts. On one point 
the law is settled Suicide does not raise the presumption of 
insanity. In regard to the effect which the suicide of a policy- 
holder, while insane, has of avoiding the policy, there being a 
proviso against that mode of death, the decisions can be 
divided broadly into two classes : 

1st. If an individual commits suicide voluntarily and 
the act is carried out in an intelligent manner, in pursuance of 
a definite purpose, it is suicide on the part of the insured, even 
if he is urged thereto by an insane impulse, or if insanity 
exists to such an extent that the immorality of the act is not 
appreciated by him. 4 Allen, 96. 

ad. "Unfortunately the sanctity of such motives as pro- 
viding support for wife and children, and possibly other con- 
siderations, have in another class of cases influenced the 
judicial mind; consequently*we find it held, that even il the act 
of suicide be voluntary, still, to bring it within the exception it 
must be accompanied by an understanding of its normal aspect, 
an ability to<distinguish right from wrong, and also a freedom 



HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF SUICIDE- 519 

from the influence of an irresistible impulse." (Med. Jur. of 
Life Ins. Hamilton's System of Legal Med., Vol. I, p. 577.) 

Thus we see that confusion still exists in the judicial 
treatment of rights under this class of contracts. There is no 
good reason why the old moral test of ability to judge the color 
of the act as to its being right or wrong, which pertains to 
criminal responsibility, should not aid in discovering whether 
the act to avoid the policy was an insane one or not. 

The moral hue of suicide is changing with the enlight- 
ened opinions of mankind. It does not stand on the same 
moral basis as homicide. To hear that your friend has com- 
mitted homicide, would shock and benumb your moral sense; 
to hear that he had taken his own life, would produce a shock 
mingled with pity and commiseration. 

You will pardon me for the suggestion that a grave duty 
devolves upon a society like this, to make itself an organ of 
public sentiment and opinion. Every such body existing to 
cultivate intelligent thought, and encourage inquiry on socio- 
logical, legal, and medical science, owes a responsible duty to 
the public in the fostering of correct and sound standards of 
living. In medicine, if you will allow an opinion from a lay- 
man, preventive therapeutics and methods are coming to* the 
front. 

What should be done toward staying the ravages of self- 
destruction ? Simply to provide discussion I venture to submit 
the following propositions : 

1. The profession of medicine should teach in its schools, 
more fully than at present, sounder laws of mental hygiene, 
and aid people in the elimination of those twin demons of 
competitive life mentioned by Horace Fletcher, 

"Anger, the root of all the aggressive passions ; 
And Worry, the root of all cowardly passions."" 

2. Education and custom being powerful factors in 
inducing to suicide, the widespread and incessant publication 



520 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

of the names, ages, sex, manner, and reasons and causes of 
suicides, thereby stimulating imitation, should be forbidden or 
curtailed by public law. 

3. As the strongest safeguard against suicide is the 
sense of responsibility to a Supreme Being, for all conduct, 
including the faithful keeping and preservation of Hie; and 
this sense of accountability to the future being destroyed, no 
consideration of duty to family, society, or self being adequate 
to answer the arguments of the suicide, it is the duty of society 
to promote all those wholesome, cheerful and rational sanc- 
tions of religion and education, which enrich, dignify and 
ennoble this present life. 

Permit me to close with the following sentence from the 
German pessimist, Schopenhauer: "Suicide may also be 
regarded as an experiment; a question which man puts to 
Nature, trying to force her to answer. The question is this : 
What change will death produce in a man's existence, and in 
his insight into the nature of things? It is a clumsy experi- 
ment to make ; for it involves the destruction of the very con- 
sciousness which puts the question, and awaits the answer." 



MOTHERHOOD. 521 



• MOTHERS AND MOTHERHOOD. 

There is a Jewish saying that "God could not be every- 
where, and therefore he made mothers." 

While this saying may conflict with' our ideas concerning 
omnipresence as a necessary attribute of Deity, it nevertheless 
voices an essential truth, that mothers, as the representative 
of the fecundity of nature, sustain the closest relation to God 
as his chosen channel through which to manifest the highest 
forms of creative power. "The fatherhood of God, the 
motherhood of nature and the consequent brotherhood of 
man," is an expression giving motherhood almost co-ordinate 
rank with God, and harmonizes perfectly with Bulwer Lytton's 
well known expression, "Nature's loving proxy, the watchful 
mother." The "proxy" idea grows out of the fact that the 
mother's instincts, acting as they do independently of and 
prior to reason, and being superior to and disconnected from 
the understanding, are in close and vital teuch with the infinite 
source of all wisdom, and hence a substitute for God within 
the limitations of their function. 

While it is true that highly educated mothers have written 
most feelingly of motherhood, it is also true that the best 
thinkers among men, in all ages, have acknowledged the 
supremacy of the maternal tie, often ascribing divine attributes 
to her surpassing tenderness. Michelet says, "It is the general 
rule, that all superior men inherit the elements of their supe- 
riority from their mothers." To this add the words of *the 
immortal Lincoln, "All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my 
angel mother;" and the tribute of John Quincy Adams, "All 
that I am my mother made me." Such acknowledgments can 
be duplicated over and over again from the literature of all 
countries and all times. Thus, Napoleon, "The future destiny 
of the child is always the work of the mother;" and again, 



522 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Napoleon, " Let France have good mothers and she will have 
good sons." 

Longfellow, drawing his inspiration from the contempla- 
tion of motherhood, says, "Even He that died for us upon 
the cross, in the last hour, in the unutterable agony of 1 death, 
was mindful of His mother, as if to teach us that this holy 
love should be our last worldly thought, the last point of earth 
from which the soul should take its flight for heaven." The 
sentiments of other authors are expressed in the following 

LACONICS. 
BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT MOTHERS. 

Maternal love ! thou word that sums all bliss. — Pollock. 

If there be aught surpassing human deed or word or thought, it is 
a mother's love. — Marchioness de Spadara. 

A man never sees all that his mother has been to him till it's too late 
to let her know that he sees it. — W. D. Howells. 

If you would reform the world from its errors and vices, begin by 
enlisting the mothers. — C. Simmons. 

But one thing on earth is better than the wife, and that is the 
mother. — t,. Schafer. 

There is in all this, cold and hollow world no fount of deep, strong, 
deathless love, save that within a mother's heart. — Mrs. Hemans. 

I think it must somewhere be written, that the virtues of mothers 
shaU be visited on their children, as well as the sins of the fathers. 
— Dickens. 

The mother's yearning, that completest type of life within another 
life which is the essence of human love, feels the presence of the cher- 
ished child, even in the base degraded man. — George Eliot. 

Unhappy is the man for whom his own mother has not made all 
other mothers venerable. — Richter. 

The dignity, the grandeur, tfae tenderness, the everlasting and divine 
significance of motherhood. — De Witt Tallmadge. 

I would desire for a friend the son who never resisted the tears of 
his mother. — Lacretelle. 

The babe at first feeds upon the mother's bosom, but is always on 
her heart. — Beecher. 

Say to mothers, what a holy charge is theirs ; with what a kingly 
power their love might rule the fountains of the new-born mind. — Mrs. 
Sigourney. 



MOTHERHOOD. 523 

Oh, wondrous power! how little understood, 

Entrusted to the mother's mind alone, 
To fashion genius, form the soul for good, 

Inspire a West, or train a Washington.— Mrs. Hale. 

What are Raphael's Madonnas but the shadow of a mother's love, 
fixed in permanent outline forever. — T. W. Higginson. 

No language can express the power and beauty and heroism and 
majesty of a mother's love. It "shrinks not where man cowers, and grows 
stronger where man faints, and over the wastes of worldly fortune 
sends the radiance of quenchless fidelity like a star in heaven. — E. H. 
Chapin. 

Happy he with such a mother! faith in womankind beats with his 
blood, and trust in all things high comes easy to him, and though he trip 
and fall, he shall not blind his soul with clay. — Tennyson. 

A mother's love is indeed the golden link that binds youth to age ; 
and he is still but a child, however time may have furrowed His cheek, 
or silvered his brow, who can yet recall, with softened heart, the fond 
devotion, or the gentle chidings, of the best friend that God ever gives 
us. — Bovee. 

It is generally admitted, and very frequently proved, that virtue and 
genius, and all the natural good qualities which men possess, are derived 
from their mothers. — Hook. 

The future of society is in the hands of the mothers. If the world 
was lost through woman, she alone can save it. — De Beaufort. 

An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy. — Spanish Proverb. 

The mother in her office holds the key of the soul ; and she it is who 
stamps the coin of character, and makes the being who would be a savage 
but for her gentle cares, a Christian man! Then crown her queen of 
the world.— Old Play. 

Children are what the mothers are; no fondest father's fondest care 
can so fashion the infant's heart, or so shape the life. — Landor. 

The mother's heart is the child's school-room. — Beecher. 

A father may turn his back on his child; brothers and sisters be- 
come inveterate enemies; husbands may desert their wives, and wives 
their husbands. But a mother's love endures through all; in good re- 
pute, in bad repute, in the face of the world's condemnation, a mother 
still loves on, and still hopes that the child may turn from his evil 
ways, and repent; and she can never be brought to think him all un- 
worthy. — Washington Irving. 

Children, look in those eyes, listen to that dear voice, notice the 
feeling of even a single touch that is bestowed upon you by that gentle 
hand! Make much of it while yet you have that most precious of all 
good gifts, a loving mother. Read the unfathomable love of those eyes; 
the kind anxiety of that tone and look, however slight your pain. In 



524 BKST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

after life you may have friends, fond, dear friends, but never will you 
have again the inexpressible love and gentleness lavished upon you, which 
none but a mother can bestow. — Macaulay. 

Men are what their mothers make them. You may as well ask a 
loom which weaves huckaback, why it does not make cashmere, as expect 
poetry from this engineer, or chemical discovery from that jobber. — 
Emerson. 

The instruction received at the mother's knee, and the paternal les- 
sons, together with the pious and sweet souvenirs of the fireside, are 
never effaced entirely from the soul. — Lamennais. 

If the whole world were put into one scale, and my mother into the 
other, the world would kick the beam. — Lord Langdale. 

No joy in nature is so sublimely affecting as the joy of a mother at 
the good fortune of her child. — Richter. 

Observe how soon, and ito what a degree, a mother's influence begins 
to operate ! Her first ministration for her infant is to enter, as it were, 
the valley of the shadow of death, and win its life at the peril of her own ! 
How different must an affection thus founded be from all others ! — 
Mrs. Sigourney. 



BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMAN. 

A beautiful and chaste woman is the perfect workmanship of God, 
the true glory of angels, the rare miracle of earth, and the sole wonder 
of the world. — Hermes. 

There is a woman at the beginning of all great things. — Lamartine. 

There is one in the world who feels for him who is sad a keener 
pang than he feels for himself; there is one to whom reflected joy is 
better than that which comes direct; there is one who rejoices in 
another's honor, more than in any which is one's own ; there is one on 
whom another's transcendent excellence sheds no beam but that of de- 
light ; there is one who hides another's infirmities more faithfully than 
one's own ; there is one who loses all sense of self in the sentiment of 
kindness, tenderness, and devotion to another ; that one is woman.— 
Washington Irving. 

Next to God we are indebted to women, first for life itself, and then 
for making it worth having. — Bovee. 

The deepest tenderness a woman can show to a man, is to help him 
to do his duty. — Mulock. 

The intuitions of women are better and readier than those of men ; 
her quick decisions without conscious reasons, are frequently far superior 
to a man's most careful deductions. — IV. Aikman. 



MOTHERHOOD. 525 

A woman has this quality in common with angels, that those who 
suffer belong to her. — Balzac. 

O, what makes women lovely? Virtue, faith and gentleness in suf- 
fering; an endurance through scorn or trial; these call beauty forth, give 
it the stamp celestial, and admit it to sisterhood with angels. — Brent. 

Women that are the least bashful are not unfrequently the most 
modest ; and we are never more deceived than when we would infer any 
laxity of principle from that freedom of demeanor which often arises 
from a total ignorance of vice. — Colton. 

Tis beauty that doth oft make women proud; 'tis virtue that doth 
make them most admired; 'tis modesty that makes them seem divine. 
— Shakespeare. 

The happiest women, like the happiest nations, have no history. — 
George Eliot. 

The best woman has always somewhat of a man's strength, and the 
noblest man, of a woman's gentleness. — Miss Mulock. 



526 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



ART. 

To present in a form acceptable to the general reader the 
best thoughts of best thinkers on art, it will be necessary first 
to analyze the idea in such a way as will determine the different 
view-points from which this great subject is to be studied. 
The two principal and opposite stations are the psychological 
and the philosophical. Seen from the psychological point 
of view, we note the relation of art to the mental facul- 
ties that recognize or comprehend art, and there are two views 
to be taken from this stand-point of comprehension — first, in 
the light of a producer of art, and, secondly, in the light of a 
spectator. 

From the producer's point of view, we are required to 
determine what processes are in operation in the artist's own 
mind; while from the spectator's point of view, we are to 
discover the mental processes by which a person who sees a 
work of art reaches a due appreciation of its merits. Both the 
artists and the admirer of art must comprehend art principles, 
though neither may be sufficiently versed in either psychology 
or philosophy to give verbal expression to the laws of thought 
which he intuitively obeys. The enjoyment of either is greatly 
enhanced by a clear understanding of the laws of both art and 
psychology, because the meaning or aesthetic effect then reaches 
the mind through two avenues, the intellect as well as the 
sensibilities. Yet the intellectual understanding of either art 
or psychology is not positively essential to the artist or to the 
spectator, any more than a technical knowledge of logic is 
essential to every speaker or hearer. Millions of people reason 
correctly, both as orators and auditors, who know nothing 
whatever of the necessary laws of thought by which they avoid 
or detect fallacies, and reach sound conclusions. It is doubt- 
less true, however, that some admirers of art and most pn> 



ART. 527 

ducers of art are familiar with the leading principles of the 
philosophy, if not the psychology involved. 

By tracing the history of art from its rude beginnings 
among savages, and also by following the development of art 
ideas among children, and even among animals, philosophers, 
such as Schiller and Herbert Spencer, have discovered that 
the play-idea is the fundamental impulse or primitive source 
of art. It was emphasized by Aristotle that imitation is an 
essential element in art, but so is imitation the foundation of 
play. Play, both in animals and children, rests on a natural 
inclination to use up surplus energy in a way to give pleasure. 
Almost every game has for its essence the imitation of some 
serious procedure, and the pretending so common in child's 
play is but the earlier manifestation and exercise of imagina- 
tion. 

Imitation, however, will not account for all the phases in 
which art shows itself. When the bird displays his bright 
plumage to his mate, or the savage smears his face with red 
paint, there is no attempt to imitate anything else, but there 
is a manifest desire to call attention to self. The lengthy 
course of reasoning and illustration necessary to establish self- 
exhibition as a fundamental motive in the psychology of art 
may be omitted, and we will simply state the conclusion 
reached, that imitation and self-exhibition are the two funda- 
mental motives which, realizing themselves in a playful way, 
produce art, the actual construction being guided by imagi- 
nation. 

Following up this lead, we note the pretense, or make- 
believe state of mind of the player and the spectator, and it is 
but a short journey from the play-house of the child, or the 
war-dance of the savage, to the modern theater where it is 
pretended that "All the world's a stage, and all the men and 
women in it merely players. They have their exits and their 
entrances; and one man in his turn plays many parts." But 
the actors are not alone the pretenders. Every one who attends 
a theatrical play exercises a sort of double consciousness. The 
spectator enters into the spirit of the play, and pretends to 



528 best Thoughts of best thinkers. 

himself that the scenes enacted are all real; at the same time 
he knows that he could withdraw at any moment and break 
off the feeling of sympathy that he is zealously exercising 
through scene after scene, with utter disregard of the omis- 
sions of time and changes of place involved. This view of the 
spectator's attitude toward art is further illustrated by his 
demand for the same qualities in a play that he demands in a 
picture — congruity. No serious inharmony of representation 
or inconsistency of events depicted in a picture would be 
tolerated. If harvesters are gathering in the hay, there must 
be no boys sliding down hill on their sleds on that canvas. 
So, on the stage, Falstaff must not travel in an automobile, 
nor Hamlet receive wireless telegrams. 

Besides the principle of congruity, there is the principle 
of unity and variety which also is essential to compel our 
admiration of art, either in play or in picture. The spectator 
cannot be interested in unity alone — that is monotonous — nor 
in variety, unless there is a cohesion of parts effected through 
a unity of purpose. Without going into* detail on this point, 
the reader will easily pass to the fact that with these essential 
principles, bearing alike upon spectators on the one hand and 
artists and actors on the other, the play is but the idealization 
of art, while art itself is but the idealization of nature. This 
is, in brief, the psychological situation. Imitation and self- 
exhibition (by ornamentation) are the fundamental impulses 
wrought out by direction of the imagination, and appreciated 
by reason of the expression therein of congruence and the 
combination of unity and variety. The human mind is so con- 
stituted as naturally to produce and recognize art by and 
through the fulfilling of these conditions. 

Viewing art from the standpoint of philosophy, we are 
confronted with the problem of aesthetics, or "What consti- 
tutes beauty?" There are two schools of thought on this point, 
the Realists and the Idealists. Realists say that beauty is a 
positive quality inherent in the things we call beautiful. 
Idealists say that beauty is only relative, a certain state 
O'f mind induced in us, and that it has no existence out- 



ART. 529 

side of the mind. Each side is ably supported by en- 
thusiastic theorists who are deeply entrenched with meta- 
physical lore, while the common sense of it all is that both are 
right and both are wrong; because it is not impossible to admit 
the claims of both, and yet neither tells the whole truth with- 
out the other. All knowledge is an expression of the reaction 
of the individual mind upon reality, and the sentiment of 
beauty, as one kind of knowledge, is no exception. Yet, if the 
susceptibility does not exist within the individual, the action 
of reality will produce no reaction resulting in the cognizance 
of beauty. Thus "The kingdom is within you," and yet, with- 
out the stimulus of objective reality, there would be no sub- 
jective recognition of the kingdom. Both the objective and 
subjective conditions are essential to the existence of beauty. 

With this brief resume of the researches of Schiller, 
Spencer, et al. concerning the origin and status of the art 
concept in the human mind, we now proceed to cite the views 
of many authors in the more general consideration of art and 
kindred ideas. We trust, however, that the reader will be 
sufficiently interested in the philosophy and psychology of art 
to follow up the study of aesthetics in works specially devoted 
thereto, and thus realize the force of Ouintillian^s observation, 
"The learned understand the reason of art ; the unlearned feel 
the pleasure." 

That art in every phase is based on pretext or illusion, 
is indicated by Goethe, "The highest problem of any art is to 
cause by appearance the illusion of a higher reality." While 
imitation is found to have been an essential element in the 
origin of art, and "The perfection of art is to conceal art," 
(Quintillian), yet in its modern development, art takes an 
advanced position, beyond the domain of imitation, merely. 
"The highest triumph of art, is the truest presentation of 
nature," (N. P. Willis) might be true without going beyond 
the pale of imitation, but Bulwer sounds the note of progress 
by saying, "Art does not imitate nature, but founds itself on 
the study of nature — takes from nature the selections which 
best accord with its own intention, and then bestows on them 



530 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

that which nature does not possess, viz., the mind and soul of 
man." That art in its highest sense embodies the artist's feel- 
ings over and above the objects represented on the canvas, 
appears also from Del Sartors view, " The object of art is to 
crystallize emotion into thought, and then fix it in form." The 
artist's personality as revealed by his work, is also declared 
by Ruskin, "All that is good in art is the expression of one 
soul talking to another, and is precious according to' the great- 
ness of the soul that utters it." The elevation of sentiment 
depicted by a master's hand is indicated by the master himself 
in the words, "The true work of art is but a shadow of the 
divine perfection.-" — Michael Angelo. 

The Epworth League motto, "Look up, lift up," might 
well be for art lovers — Look up and be lifted up. Ruskin 
says, "All great art is the expression of man's delight in God's 
work, not his own," and Tryon Edwards, "True art is rever- 
ent imitation of God." That our aim in the study of an 
artist's work should always be upward, is implied by Wash- 
ington Allston, "Never judge a work of art by its defects." 

The high moral status of art is still further proclaimed 
by Blaikie, "The highest art is always the most religious, and 
the greatest artist is always a devout man. A scoffing Raphael 
or an irreverent Michael Angelo is not conceivable." J. G. 
Holland voices the same sentiment thus, "Artists are nearest 
God. Into their souls he breathes his life, and from their 
hands it comes in fair, articulate forms to bless the world." 

Hear Addison : 

"Fain would I Raphael's god-like art rehearse, 

Where from the mingled strength of shade and light, 
A new creation rises to my sight ; 
Such heavenly figures from his pencil flow, 
So warm with life his blended colors glow.'" 

How appropriate that art should be praised in verse! 
Horace says, "A picture is a poem without words," and Simon- 
ides, "Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is a speaking pic- 
ture." The close connection between painting and poetry is 
noted thus by Emerson, "The masters painted for joy, and 
knew not that virtue had gone out of them. They could not 



ART. 531 

paint like that in cold blood. The masters of English lyric 
wrote their songs so. It was a fine efflorescence of their 
powers." Professor Wilson says, " Poetry is the intellect col- 
ored by feeling." Also t Macaulay, "Poetry is the art of doing 
by means of words, what the painter does by means of colors." 

Of course, the kinship of art and poetry is due to their 
common dependence upon inspiration for their best qualities. 
Shelley writes, "Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended 
inspiration ; the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity 
casts upon the present." How often it happens that some 
young artist has "painted better than he knew," and in line 
with this is Plato's thought, "Poets utter great and wise things 
which they themselves do not understand;" to which we may 
add, "After our subtlest analysis of the mental process, we 
must still say that our highest thoughts and our best deeds are 
all given to us." — George Eliot 



BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT ART. 

Would that we could at once paint with the eyes ! — In the long way 
from the eye through the arm to the pencil, how much is lost ! — Lessing. 

The mother of the useful art is necessity; that of the fine arts is 
luxury ; — The former have intellect for their father ; the latter, genius, 
which is itself a kind of luxury. — Schopenhauer. 

There is no more potent antidote to low sensuality than admiration 
of the beautiful. — All the higher arts of design are essentially chaste, 
without respect to the object. — They purify the thoughts as tragedy puri- 
fies the passions. — Their accidental defects are not worth consideration ; 
for there are souls to whom even a vestal is not holy." — Schlegel. 

The artist is the child in the popular fable, every one of whose tears 
was a pearl. Ah! the world, that cruel stepmother, beats the poor child 
the harder to make him shed more pearls. — Heine. 

The mission of art is to represent nature, not to imitate her. — W. M. 
Hunt. 

The ordinarily true, or purely real, cannot be the object of the arts. 
— Illusion on a ground of truth, that is the secret of the fine arts. — 
Joubert. 

The painter is, as to the execution of his work, a mechanic; but 
as to his conception and spirit and design he is hardly below even the 
poet.— Schiller. 



532 B£ST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



ONWARD AND UPWARD. 

Note. — The following are the closing lines of a lecture on " Character in Com- 
mercial Life, or Money versus Manhood." 

Rear to the skies the ladder of life. 

Each noble deed is a golden round, 

Lifting the soul to a higher ground, 
To be victor-crowned in every strife. 

Slay the passions that dwarf the soul, — 

Envy and avarice drag you down ; 

Mount to the summit and wear the crown 
Won by your deeds of self-control. 

Conquering self you mount on high, 

Beyond temptation's power to mar, 

Nearer the gates that stand ajar, 
Waiting your coming by and by. 

Forgive your enemy — up you rise ! 
He gains freedom from discontent, 
You gain a knowledge of life well spent — 

Yours is an everlasting prize. 

Be kind to the erring — on you ascend ! 
He, thus redeemed from a life misspent, 
Blesses mankind with the blessing you sent, — 

Yours is the increase, world without end. 

— Hialmer D. Gould. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FILE. 533 



LACONICS. 
BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FILE. 

Note. — The following list of laconics in choice pairs embraces over five hundred 
leading topics alphabetically arranged. Besides the references noted the reader will 
readily recognize many other examples which clearly exemplify some principle in the 
Symposium. 

Ability doth hit the mark where presumption over-shooteth and dif- 
fidence falleth short. — Cusa. 

No man's abilities are so remarkably shining as not to need a proper 
opportunity, a patron, and even the praises of a friend to recommend 
them to the notice of the world. — Pliny. 

152 Absence lessens moderate passions and increases great ones; 16 3 
as the wind extinguishes the burning taper, but kindles the burning dwel- 
ling. — Rochefoucauld. 

Absence in love is 153 like water upon a fire ; a little quickens, but much 
extinguishes it. — Hannah More. 

Abuse is often of service. There is nothing so dangerous to an 
author as silence. His name, 153 like the shuttle-cock, must be beat back- 
ward and foAvard, or it falls to the ground. — Johnson. 

Abuse me as much as you will, it is often a benefit rather than an 
injury. But for heaven's sake, don't make me ridiculous. — B. Nott. 

Accuracy is the twin brother of honesty; inaccuracy of dishonesty. — 
C. Simmons. 

Accuracy of statement is one of the first requisites of truth; inaccu- 
racy is a near kin to falsehood. — Try on Edwards. 

Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness 
without action. — Disraeli. 

Only actions give to life its strength, as only moderation gives it 
its charm. — Richter. 

Actors are the only honest hypocrites. Their life is a voluntary 
dream; and the height of their ambition is to be beside themselves. — 
Hazlitt. 

An actor should take lessons from the painter and the sculptor. — 
Goethe. 

Address makes opportunities; the want of it gives them. — Bovee. 
Brahma once asked of Force,203 "Who is stronger than thou?" She 
replied, "Address."— Victor Hugo. 



534 B £ST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Admiration is the daughter of ignorance.— Franklin. 

Admiration is a very short-lived passion that decays on growing fa- 
miliar with its object, unless it be fed with fresh discoveries and kept 
alive by perpetual miracles rising up to its view. — Addison. 

Adversity is the trial of principle. — Without it a man hardly knows 
whether he is honest or not. — Fielding. 

161 Adversity isi62 the diamond dust Heaven polishes its jewels 
with. — Leighton. 

Advice is seldom welcome. Those who need it most, like it least. — 
Johnson. 

Advice and reprehension require the utmost delicacy. — Percival. 

Affectation is a greater enemy to the face than the smallpox — St. 
Evermond. 

152 Affectation lights a candle to our defects, and though it may gratify 
ourselves, it disgusts all others. — Lavater. 

155 Affections, like conscience, are rather to be led than driven. 
Those who marry where they do not love, will be likely to love where 
they do not marry. — Fuller. 

i53The affections are like lightning: you cannot tell where they will 
strike till they have fallen. — Lacordaire. 

Affliction is a school of virtue; it corrects levity, and interrupts the 
confidence of sinning. — Atterbury. 

Affliction is not sent in vain from the good God who chastens those 
that he loves. — Southey. 

Age does not make us childish, as some say; it finds us true children. 
— Goethe. 

i76In old age life's shadows are meeting eternity's day. — Clarke. 

Agitation is the marshalling of the conscience of a nation to mould 
its laws. — Sir R. Peel. 

Agitation is the method that plants the school by the side of the bal- 
lot box. — Wendell Philips. 

Agriculture for an honorable and high minded man, is the best of all 
occupations or arts by which men procure the means of living. — 
Xenophon. 

Agriculture not only gives riches to a nation, but the only riches she 
calls her own. — Johnson. 

Aim at the sun, and you may not reach it ; but your arrow will fly 
far higher than if aimed at an object on a level with yourself. — Hawes. 

i6i High aims and lofty purposes are the wings of the soul, aiding 
it to mount to heaven. — S. Spring. 

i 7 iAllegories, when well chosen, are like 1 53 so many tracks of light in 
a discourse, that make everything about them clear and beautiful. — 
Addison. 

Allegories are fine ornaments and good illustrations, but not proof. 
— Luther. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FILE. 535 

Ambition is not a weakness, unless it be disproportioned to the ca- 
pacity. To have more ambition than ability is to be at once weak and 
unhappy.— G. S. Hillard. 

Ambition has one heel nailed in well, though she stretch her fingers 1 ?? 
to touch the heavens.— Lilly. 

America is a fortunate country; she grows by the folly of our Euro- 
pean nations. — Napoleon. 

America is another name for opportunity. Our whole history ap- 
pears like a last effort of divine Providence in behalf of the human 
race. — Emerson. 

^Amusement is the waking sleep of labor. — Willmott. 
Amusement to an observing mind is study. — Disraeli. 

Anarchy is the choking, sweltering, deadly, and killing rule of no 
rule. — Carlyle. 

Anarchy is the hatred of human authority; atheism, of divine au- 
thority — two sides of the same whole. — Macpherson. 

Ancestry never made a man great. Thought and deed, not pedigree, 
are the passports to enduring fame. — Skobeleff. 

Ancestry and title render a good man more illustrious, but an ill one 
more contemptible. — Addison. 

Anecdotes and maxims are rich treasures to the man of the world, 
for he knows how to introduce the former at fit places in conversation, 
and to recollect the latter on proper occasions. — Goethe. 

Anecdotes of authors are often more interesting than their works. — 
Disraeli. 

Angels may have wider spheres of action and nobler forms of duty 62 § 
than ourselves, but truth 471 and right 631 to them and to us are one and 
the same thing. — E. H. Chapin. 

Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth unseen, both when we 
sleep and when we wake. — Milton. 

Anger ventilated often hurries toward forgiveness; anger concealed 
often hardens into revenge. — Bulwer. 

Keep cool and you command everybody. — St. Just. 

Antiquity is enjoyed not by the ancients who lived in the infancy of 
things, but by us who live in their maturity. — Colton. 

Antiquity!— I like its ruins better than its reconstructions. — Joubert. 

Anxiety is a word of unbelief or unreasoning dread. We have no 
right to allow it. Full faith in God puts it to rest.— Horace Bushnell. 

Anxiety is the rust of life, destroying its brightness and weakening 
its power. A childlike and abiding trust in Providence is its best pre- 
ventive and remedy. — Tryon Edwards. 

Apologies only account for the evil which they cannot alter. — Disraeli. 

Apology is only egotism wrong side out. — O. W. Holmes. 

Apothegms are the wisdom of the past condensed for the instruction 
and guidance of the present. — Tryon Edwards. 



53^ . BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Apothegms to thinking minds are seeds 177 from which spring vast 
fields 177 of new thought, that may be further cultivated, beautified and 
enlarged. — Ramsay. 

4i4_4i5Appetite well governed is a great part of liberty. — Seneca. 
391 Reason should direct, and appetite obey. — Cicero. 

Applause is the spur of noble minds ; the end and aim of weak ones. — 
Colton. 

Applause waits on success. The fickle multitude, 153 like the straw 
that floats on the stream, glide with the current still, and follow fortune. 
— Franklin. 

Appreciation ! Next to excellence is the appreciation of it. — Thackeray. 

Appreciation, ■ whether of nature, or books, or art, or men, depends 
very much on temperament. — What is beauty, or greatness, or genius to 
one is far from being so to another. — Tryon Bdwards. 

Architecture is the handmaid of devotion. 161A beautiful church is 
a sermon in stone, and its spire a finger pointing to heaven. — Schaff. 

Architecture is the art which so disposes and adorns the edifices 
raised by man, that the sight of them may contribute to his mental 
health, power and pleasure. — Ruskin. 

449Argument, as usually managed, is the worst sort of conversation, as 
in books it is generally the worst sort of reading. — Swift. 

He who establishes his argument by noise and command, shows that 
his reason 439 is weak. — Montaigne. 

Aristocracy has three successive ages: the age of superiorities, that 
of privileges, and that of vanities. Having passed out of the first, it de- 
generates into the second* and dies away in the third.— Chateaubriand. 

And lords, whose parents were the Lord knows who. — De Foe. 

ieiThe army is a good book in which to study human Yiiz.—De Vigny. 

The best armor is to keep out of gunshot. — Bacon. 

Aspirations after the holy are the only aspirations in which the 
soul can be assured it will never meet with disappointment.— Maria 
Mcintosh. 

There are glimpses of heaven to us in every act, or thought, or word, 
that raises us above ourselves. — A. P. Stanley. 

Assertion, unsupported by fact, is nugatory. m -^ Junius. 

Weigh not so much what men assert, as what they prove.* 77 480— Sir 
P. Sidney. 

Atheism is rather in the life than in the heart 375 - 394 of man.— Bacon. 

Atheism is a disease of the soul before it becomes an error of the un- 
derstanding. — Plato. 

Attention makes the genius; all learning, fancy, science, and skill 
depend upon it. Without it, taste is useless, and the beauties of litera- 
ture unobserved. — Willmott. 

Attention, more than any difference of native powers, makes the wide 
difference between minds and mzn.—Brodie. 



6EST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FILE. 537 

Authorship is a royal priesthood. — Greely. 

Authorship has three difficulties : to write anything worth publishing, 
to find honest men to publish it, and to get sensible men to read it. — 
Colton. 

Avarice increases with the increasing pile of gold. 409 . — Juvenal. 

Avarice begets more vices than Priam did children, and like Priam, 
survives them all. It starves its keeper to surfeit those who wish him 
dead, and makes him submit to more mortifications to lose heaven than 
the martyr undergoes to gain it. — Colton. 

B 

Babes 177 — living jewels dropped from heaven. — Pollok. 

A babe in the house is a well-spring of pleasure, a messenger of 
peace and love, a resting place for innocence on earth, a link between 
angels and men. — Tupper. 

Ballads are the vocal portraits of the national mind. 161 — Lamb. 

Ballads are the gypsy children of song, born under green hedgerows, 
in the leafy lanes and by-paths of literature, in the genial summer time. 161 
— Longfellow. 

Baseness of character not only sears the conscience, but deranges 
the intellect. — Colton. 

Base occupations make one sharp in their practice, and dull in every 
other. — Sir P. Sidney. 

Bashfulness may sometimes exclude pleasure, 416 but seldom opens 
any avenue to sorrow 398 or remorse. 408 . — Johnson. 

Bashfulness is an ornament to youth but a reproach to old age. — 
Aristotle. 

Beard was never the true standard of brains. — Fuller. 
He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath none 
is less than a man. — Shakespeare. 

426 Beauty is but the sensible image of the Infinite. Like truth and 
justice, it lives within us; like virtue and the moral law, it is a com- 
panion of the soul. — Bancroft. 

The beauty seen is partly in him who sees it. 406 — Bovee. 

Behavior is a mirror in which every one displays his image. — Goethe. 
Levity of behavior is the bane of all that is good and virtuous. — 
Seneca. 

Beneficence is a duty; 626 and he who frequently practices it, and sees 
his benevolent intentions realized, comes, at length, really to love him to 
whom he has done good. — Kant. 

The greatest pleasure I know is to do a good action by stealth, and 
have it found out by accident. — Lamb. 

Benevolent feeling enobles the most trifling actions. — Thackeray. 
Benevolence is allied to few vices ; selfishness 409 to fewer virtues. 
— Home. 



53$ BEST THOUGHTS OF B£ST THINKERS. 

The Bible is a window in this prison of hope through which we look 
into eternity. 161 . — DwigJit. 

The Bible stands alone in human literature in its elevated concep- 
tion of manhood as to character and conduct. It is the invaluable train- 
ing book of the world. — H. W . Beecher. 

Bigotry murders religion to frighten fools with her ghost. 176 . — Colton. 
There is no bigotry like that of "free thought" run to seed. 176 — 
Horace Greely. 

Biography is the most universally pleasant and profitable of all read- 
ing. — Cariyle. 

Biography is the personal and home aspect of history. — Willmott. 

Birth is nothing but death begun, as 153 tapers waste the moment they 
take fire. — Young. 

What is birth to a man, if it be a stain to his dead ancestors to have 
left such an offspring? — Sir P. Sidney.. 

Blessedness consists in a good life and a happy death. — Solon. 
Blessedness consists in the accomplishment of our desires, and in our 
having only regular desires. 414 — Augustine. 

A blockhead cannot come in, nor go away, nor sit, nor rise, nor 
stand, like a man of sense. — Bruyere. 

Heaven and earth fight in vain against a dunce. — Schiller. 

A blush is a sign that nature hangs out, to show where chastity and 
honor dwell. — Gotthold. 

The blush is nature's alarm at the approach of sin, and her testimony 
to the dignity of virtue. — Fuller. 

Blustering — a killing tongue but a quiet sword. 176 — Shakespeare. 
It is with narrow-souled people as 153 with narrow necked bottles ; the 
less they have in them, the more noise they make in pouring it out. — Pope. 

Where boasting ends, there dignity begins. — Young. 

The empty vessel makes the greatest sound. — Shakespeare. 

The body is 162 a well set clock, which keeps good time, but if it be 
too much or indiscreetly tampered with, the alarum runs out before the 
hour.— Bp. Hall. 

The body is a study for one's whole life. If an undevout astronomer 
is mad, an undevout physiologist is madder. — H. W. Beecher. 

Books are lighthouses erected in the great sea of time. — Whipple. 
A book is the only immortality. — Rufus Choate. 

Borrowing is not much better than begging. — Lessing. 
The borrower runs in his own debt. — Emerson. 

Bravery founded on hope of recompense, fear of punishment, expe- 
rience of success, on rage, or on ignorance of danger, is but common 
bravery, and does not deserve the name. True bravery proposes a just 
end ; measures the dangers, and meets the results with calmness and 
unyielding decision. — La None. 

The best hearts are ever the bravest. — Sterne. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FILE. 539 

Brevity is the best recommendation of speech, whether in senator or 
orator. — Cicero. 

Brevity is the soul of wit. 270 . — Shakespeare. 

The brotherhood of man G2 6 is an integral part of Christianity no less 
than the Fatherhood of God; and to deny the one is no less infidel than 
to deny the other. — Lyman Abbott. 

There is no brotherhood of man without the Fatherhood of God. — 
H. M. Field. 

C 

Calamity is man's true touchstone. — Beaumont and Fletcher. 
Calamity is the perfect glass wherein we truly see and know our- 
selves. — Davenant. 

Calumny crosses oceans, scales mountains, and traverses deserts with 
greater ease than Scythian Abaris, and like 153 him, rides upon a 
poisoned arrow. — Cotton. 

Calumny would soon starve and die of itself if nobody took it in and 
gave it a lodging. 176 — Leighton. 

Candor is the brightest gem 101 of criticism. — Disraeli. 

Candor is the seal of a noble mind, the ornament and pride of man, 
the sweetest charm of women, the scorn of rascals, and the rarest virtue 
of sociability. — Sternac. 

Cant is the voluntary overcharging or prolongation of a real senti- 
ment ; hypocrisy is the setting up pretence to a feeling you never had, 
and have no wish for. — Hazfttt. 

Cant is itself properly a double-distilled lie, the materia prima of the 
devil, from which all falsehoods, imbecilities, and abominations embody 
themselves, and from which no true thing can come. — Carlyle. 

Cares are often more difficult to throw off than sorrows ; the latter 
die with time; the former grow upon it. — Richter. 

Care is no cure, but rather a corrosive for things that are not to be 
remedied. — Shakespeare. 

Caution is wall learned by the misfortunes of others. — Publius Syrus. 
Look before you leap ; see before you go. — Tusser. 

The censure of those who are opposed to us is the highest commen- 
dation that can be given us. — St. Bvremond. 

Censure is the tax a man pays to the public for being eminent. — 
Swift. 

Ceremony is the invention of wise men to keep fools at a distance ; 
as good breeding is an expedient to make fools and wise men equals. — 
Steele. 

All ceremonies are, in themselves, very silly things; but yet a man 
of the world should know them. They are the outworks of manners and 
decency, which would too often be broken in upon, if it were not for 
that defense which keeps the enemy at a proper distance. — Chesterfield. 



54° BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Chance is but the pseudonym of God for those particular cases which 
he does not choose to subscribe openly with his own signal-manual. — 
Coleridge. 

Chance is a word void of sense ; nothing can exist without a cause. — 
Voltaire. 

Character is perfectly educated will. 419 - 424 — Novalis. 

Character is a diamond which scratches every other stone. — Bartol. 

Charity gives itself rich; covetousness hoards itself poor. — German 
Proverb. 

The charity that hastens to proclaim its good deeds ceases to be 
charity, and is only pride and ostentation. — Hutton. 

Chastity enables the soul to breathe a pure air in the foulest places. 
Continence makes her strong, no matter in what condition the body may 
be. Her sway over the senses makes her queenly : her light and peace 
render her beautiful. — Joubert. 

That chastity of honor which feels a stain like a wound. — Burke. 

Cheerfulness 39 ^ is as natural to the heart of a man in strong health, 
as color to his cheek; and wherever there is habitual gloom, there must 
be either bad air, unwholesome food, improperly severe labor, or erring 
habits of life. — Ruskin. 

Cheerfulness is a friend to grace ; it puts the heart in tune to praise 
God, and so honors religion by proclaiming to the world that we serve 
a good master. — Watson. 

Children have more need of models than of criticism. — Joubert. 
I love these little people, and it is not a slight thing, when they, who 
are so fresh from God* love us. — Dickens. 

Christianity will gain by every step that is taken in the knowledge 
of man. — Spurzheim. 

Christianity is not a theory or a speculation, but a life; not a philos- 
ophy of life, but a life and a living process. — Coleridge. 

The Church is the great uplifting and conserving agency in the world, 
without which the race would soon relapse into barbarism and press its 
way to perdition. — R. F. Sample. 

The Church is not a gallery for the exhibition of eminent Christians, 
but a school for the education of imperfect ones, a nursery for the care 
of weak ones, a hospital for the healing for those who need assiduous 
care.—//. IV. Beecher. 

Circumstances are the rulers of the weak; they are but the instru- 
ments of the wise. — Samuel Lover. 

Circumstances form the character; but like 153 petrifying waters, they 
harden while they form. — L. E. Landon. 

Cities force growth and make men talkative and entertaining, but 
they make them artificial. — Emerson. 

If you would know and not be known, live in a city. — Colton. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FILE. 54 1 

Civility is a charm that attracts the love of all men ; and too much is 
better than to show too little. — Bp. Home. 

When a great merchant of Liverpool was asked by what means he 
had contrived to realize the large fortune he possessed, his reply was, 
"By one article alone, in which thou mayest deal too, if thou pleasest, — 
it is civility. — Bentley. 

Civilization 612 is the upward struggle of mankind, in which millions 
are trampled to death that thousands may mount on their bodies. — 
Balfour. 

If you would civilize a man, begin with his grandmother. — Victor 
Hugo. 

Cleanliness of body was ever esteemed to proceed from a due rever- 
ence to God. — Bacon. 

So great is the effect of cleanliness upon man, that it extends even 
to his moral character. Virtue never dwelt long with filth ; nor do 1 
believe there ever was a person scrupulously attentive to cleanliness who 
was a consummate villain. — Rumford. 

Clemency is the brightest jewel in a monarch's crown. — Stretch. 

In general, indulgence for those we know, is rarer than pity for 
those we know not. 399 — Rivarol. 

Clouds — those playful fancies of the mighty sky. — Albert Smith. 

That looked as 153 though an angel, in his upward flight, had left his 
mantle floating in mid air. — Joanna Bailey. 

Our "comforts grow up between our crosses. — Young. 

Of all created comforts, God is the lender ; you are the borrower, 
not the owner. — Rutherford. 

A commander is 163 a root, out of which, as branches, the courage of 
his soldiers doth spring. — Sir P. Sidney. 

It is better to have a lion at the head of an army of sheep, than a 
sheep at the head of an army of lions. — De Foe. 

Commerce has made all winds her messengers; all climes her tribu- 
taries ; all people her servants. — Tryon Edwards. 

Commerce is no missionary to carry more or better than you have at 
home. But what you have at home, be it Gospel or be it drunkenness, 
commerce carries the world over. — B. B. Hale. 

Common sense is, of all kinds, the most uncommon. It implies good 
judgment, sound discretion, and true and practical wisdom applied to 
common life. — Tryon Edwards. 

Fine sense, and exalted sense, are not half as useful as common 
sense. There are forty men of wit to one of sense. He that will carry 
nothing about him but gold, will be every day at a loss for readier 
change. 177 — Pope. 

Communism possesses a language which every people can under- 
stand. Its elements are hunger, envy and death. — Heine. 

What is a communist? One who has yearnings for equal division of 
unequal earnings. Idler or bungler, he is willing to fork out his penny 
and pocket your shilling. — Bbenezer Elliott. 



542 BEST THOUGHTS OF B^Sf fHINKERS. 

No company is preferable to bad, because we are more apt to catch 
the vices of others than their virtues, as disease is far more contagious 
than health. — Colton. 

Good company and good discourse are the very sinews of virtue. — 
Izaak Walton. 

47Compassion to an offender who has grossly violated the laws, is, in 
effect, a cruelty to the peaceable subject who has observed them. — Junius. 

Man may dismiss compassion from his heart, but God will never. — 
Cowper. 

A compensation that is universal prevails in all conditions of being 
and existence. All advantages are attended with disadvantages.— Hume. 

If the poor man cannot always get meat, the rich man cannot always 
digest it. 4 ^ — Giles. 

Complaisance pleases all; prejudices none; adorns wit; renders 
humor agreeable; augments friendship; redoubles love; and, united with 
justice and generosity, becomes the secret chain of the society of man- 
kind. — M. de Scuderi. 

Complacency is a coin, by the aid of which all the world can, for 
want of essential means, pay its club bill in society. It is necessary, how- 
ever, that it may lose nothing of its merits, to associate judgment and 
prudence with it. — Voltaire. 

Compliments of congratulation are always kindly taken, and cost 
nothing but pen, ink and paper. I consider them as 153 draughts upon 
good breeding, where the exchange is always greatly in favor of the 
drawer. — Chesterfield. 

Compliments are only lies in court clothes. 177 — Sterling. 

Compromise is but the sacrifice of one right or good in the hope of 
retaining another — too often ending in the loss of both. — Tryon Edwards. 

From the beginning of our history, the country has been afflicted 
with compromise. It is by compromise that human rights have been 
abandoned. The country needs repose, and repose can only be found in 
everlasting principles. — Charles Sumner. 

Conceit is to nature what paint is to beauty; it is not only needless 
but it impairs what it would improve. — Pope. 

Conceit may puff a man up, but can never prop him up. — George 
Bliot. 

Conduct is the great profession. Behavior is the perpetual revealing 
of us. What a man does tells what he is. — F. D. Huntingdon. 

Every one of us, whatever our speculative opinions, knows better 
than he practices, and recognizes a better law than he obeys. 371 , 373 , 377 — 
Froude. 

The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works. — 
Augustine. 

A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the 
wrong, which is but saying in other words, that he is wiser to-day than 
he was yesterday. — Pope. 



BflST THOUGHTS IN DOUBI<£ FILE. 543 

Confidence 161 is a plant of slow growth, especially in an aged bosom. 

— Johnson. 

Confidence in another man's virtue, is no slight evidence of one's 

own. — Montaigne. 

Conscience is the voice of the soul, as the passions are the voice of 
the body. No wonder they often contradict 506 each other. — Rousseau. 
Man's conscience is the oracle of God. — Byron. 

Conservatism will not look at the new moon out of respect for that 
"ancient institution," the old one. — Jerrold. 

The highest function of conservatism is to keep what progressiveness 
has accomplished. — R. H. Fulton. 

With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as 
well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. — Bmerson. 

Inconsistency with past views or conduct may be but a mark of in- 
creasing knowledge and wisdom. — Tryon Edwards. 

Consolation, indiscreetly pressed upon us when we are suffering under 
affliction, only serves to increase our pain and to render our grief more 
poignant. — Rousseau. 

Quiet and sincere sympathy is often the most welcome and efficient 
consolation to the afflicted. Said a wise man to one in deep sorrow, "I 
did not come to comfort you; God only can do that; but I did come to 
say how deeply and tenderly I feel for you in your affliction." 399 — Tryon 
Edwards. 

Conspiracies, like 153 thunder clouds, should in a moment form and 
strike like lightning, ere the sound is heard. — Dow. 

Combinations of wickedness would overwhelm the world by the 
advantage which licentious principles afford, did not those who have long 
practiced perfidy grow faithless to each other. — Johnson. , 

Constancy is the complement of all other human virtues. — Mazzini. 
O heaven! were man but constant, he were perfect. — Shakespeare. 

Contemplation is to knowledge what digestion is to food — the way 
to get life out of it. — Tryon Edwards. 

In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn than to con- 
template. — Descartes. 

Contempt is the only way to triumph over calumny. — Mad. de 
Maintenon. 

Contemn not any man, and do not spurn anything; for there is no 
man that hath not his hour, nor is there anything that hath not its 
place. — Rabbi Ben Azai. 

Contention is like fire, for both burn so long as there is any exhaust- 
ible matter to contend within. Only herein it transcends fire, for fire 
begets not matter but consumes it : debates beget matter, but consume it 
not. — T. Adams. 

Religious contention is the devil's harvest. — Fontaine. 

Contentment is natural wealth; luxury is artificial poverty. — Socrates. 



544 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Great is he that enjoys his earthenware as if it were plate, and not 
less great is the man to whom all his plate is no more than earthenware. 
— height on. 

Conversation opens our views, and gives our faculties a more vig- 
orous play ; it puts us upon turning our notions on every side, and holds 
them up to a light that discovers those latent flaws which would probably 
have lain concealed in the gloom of unagitated abstraction. — Melmoth. 

Conversation is a traffic. If you enter into it without some stock of 
knowledge to balance the account perpetually betwixt you and another, 
the trade drops at once. — Sterne. 

Conversion is no repairing of the old building; but it takes all down 
and erects a new structure. The sincere Christian is quite a new fabric, 
from the foundation to the top-stone all new. — Alleine. 

Conversion is not implanting eyes, for they exist already; but giving 
them a right direction, which they have not. — Plato. 

A coquette is a woman without any heart, who makes a fool of a 
man that hasn't got any head. — Anon. 

A coquette is a young lady of more beauty than sense, more accom- 
plishments than learning, more charms of person than graces of mind, 
more admirers than friends, more fools than wise men for attendants. — 
Longfellow. 

In counsel, it is good to see dangers ; but in execution, not to see 
them unless they be very great. — Bacon. 

Counsel and conversation are a second education, which improve all 
the virtue, and correct all the vice of the first, and of nature itself. — 
Clarendon. 

The country is both the philosopher's garden and his library, in which 
he reads and contemplates the power, wisdom and goodness of God. — 
Penn. 

If country life be healthful to the body, it is no less so to the mind. — 
Ruflini. 

Courage consists, not in blindly overlooking danger, but in seeing 
and conquering it. — Richter. 

Courage from hearts and not from numbers grows. — Dryden. 

Courtesy is a science of the highest importance. It is like grace and 
beauty in the body, which charm at first sight, and lead on to further 
intimacy and friendship. — Montaigne. 

The whole of heraldry and of chivalry is in courtesy. A man of fine 
manners shall pronounce your name with all the ornament* that titles of 
nobility could add. — Bmerson. 

A court is an assemblage of noble and distinguished beggars. — 
Talleyrand. 

The court is a golden, but fatal circle, upon whose magic skirts a 
thousand devils sit tempting innocence, and beckon early virtue from its 
center.— TV. Lee. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FILE. 545 

Courtship consists in a number of quiet attentions, not so pointed 
as to alarm, nor so vague as not to be understood. — Sterne. 

With women worth being won, the softest lover ever best succeeds. — 
A. Hill. 

Covetousness, by a greediness of getting more, deprives itself of the 
true end of getting: it loses the enjoyment of what it had got. — Sprat. 

Covetousness swells the principal to no purpose, and lessens the use 
to all purposes. — Jeremy Taylor. 

Cowardice is not synonymous with prudence. It often happens that 
the better part of discretion is valor. — Haslitt. 

Cowards falter, but danger is often overcome by those who nobly 
dare. — Queen Elisabeth. 

A coxcomb begins by determining that his own profession is the first, 
and finishes by deciding that he is the first in his profession. — Colton. 

A coxcomb is ugly all over with affectation of the fine gentleman. — 
— Johnson. 

Credit is like 153 a looking-glass, which, when once sullied by a breath 
may be wiped clear again ; but if once cracked can never be repaired. — 
Walter Scott. 

The most trifling actions that affect a man's credit are to be regarded. 
The sound of your hammer at five in the morning, or at nine at night, 
heard by a creditor, makes him easier six months longer; but if he sees 
you at a billiard table, or hears your voice at a tavern when you should 
be at work, he sends for his money the next day. — Franklin. 

Heaven will permit no man to secure happiness by crime. 617 . — AlHeri. 

Crimes sometimes shock us too much; vices almost always too little. 
— Hare. 

Criticism, as it was first instituted by Aristotle, was meant as a stan- 
dard of judging well. — Johnson. 

Is it in destroying and pulling down that skill is displayed? The 
shallowest understanding, the rudest hand, is more than equal to that 
task. — Burke. 

Some critics are like chimney-sweepers ; they put out the fire below, 
and frighten the swallows from their nests above; they scrape a long 
time in the chimney, cover themselves with soot, and bring nothing away 
but a bag of cinders, and then sing out from the top of the house, as if 
they had built it. — Longfellow. 

He whose first emotion on the view of an excellent production is to 
undervalue it, will never have one of his own to show. — Aikin. 

The cross is the only ladder high enough to touch heaven's thres- 
hold. — G. D. Boardman. 

Carry the cross patiently, and with perfect submission, and in the end 
it shall carry you. — Thomas a Kempis. 

All cruelty springs from hard-heartedness and weakness. — Seneca. 

Cruelty to dumb animals is one of the distinguishing vices of the 
lowest and basest of the people. Wherever it is found, it is ai certain 
mark of ignorance and meanness. — Jones of Nayland. 



54^ BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. . 

Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body. — Cicero. 

I am very sure that any man of common understanding may, by 
culture, care, attention, and labor, make himself whatever he pleases, 
except a great poet. — Chesterfield. 

Cunning pays no regard to virtue, and is but the low mimic of 
wisdom. — Bolingbroke. 

A cunning man is never a firm man ; but an honest man is ; a double- 
minded man is always unstable ; a man of faith is firm as a rock. There 
is a sacred connection between honesty and faith; honesty is faith applied 
to worldly things, and faith is honesty quickened by the Spirit to the use 
of heavenly things. — Edward Irving. 

Curiosity is as much the parent of attention, as attention is of 
memory .384 — Whately. 

Curiosity is looking over other people's affairs, and overlooking our 
own. — H. L. Wayland 

Curses are like young chickens, and still come home to roost. — Buliver. 

Dinna curse him, sir; I have heard it said that a curse was like a 
stone flung up to the heavens, and most likely to return on the head of 
him who sent it. — Walter Scott. 

Custom is often only the antiquity of error. — Cyprian. 
The custom and fashion of to-day will be the awkwardness and out- 
rage of tomorrow — so arbitrary are these transient laws. — Dumas. 

The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in man, and never 
fails to see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and 
blind to light, mousing for vermin, and never seeing noble game. — Beecher. 

Don't be a cynic, and bewail and bemoan. Omit the negative propo- 
sitions. 526 Don't waste yourself in rejections and bark against the bad, 
but chant the beauty of the good. Set down nothing that will help 
somebody. — Emerson. 

D 

Dancing, like a corporeal poesy, embellishes, exercises and equalizes 
all the muscles at once. — Richter. 

Those move easiest who have learned to dance. — Pope. 

A dandy is a clothes-wearing man — a man whose trade, office and 
existence consist in the wearing of clothes. Every faculty of his soul, 
spirit, person and purse is heroically consecrated to this one object — the 
wearing of clothes wisely and well ; so that as others dress to live, he 
lives to dress. — Carlyle. 

A fool may have his coat embroidered with gold, but it is a fool's 
coat still. — Rivarol. 

Let the fear of a danger be a spur to prevent it; he that fears not, 
gives advantage to the danger. — Quarles. 

Danger levels man and brute, and all are fellows in their need. — 
Byron. 

A daughter is an embarrassing and ticklish possession. — Menander. 

To a father waxing old, nothing is dearer than a daughter — Euripides. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FILE. 547. 

Every day is a little life, and our whole life is but a day repeated; 
therefore live every day as if it would be the last. Those that dare lose 
a day are dangerously prodigal; those that dare misspend it are des- 
perate. — Bp. Hall. 

"I've lost a day" — the prince who nobly cried, had been an emperor 
without his crown. — Young. 

Death, to a good man, is but passing through a dark entry, out of one 
little dusky room of his father's house, into another that is fair and large, 
lightsome and glorious, and divinely entertaining. — Clarke. 

Death is like thunder in two particulars : we are alarmed at the sound 
of it, and it is formidable only from that which preceded it. — Colton. 

Debt is the secret foe of thrift, as vice and idleness are its open foes,. 
The debt-habit is the twin brother of poverty. — T. T. Munger. 

Poverty is hard, but debt is horrible. A man might as well have a 
smoky house and a scolding wife, which are said to be the two worst 
evils of our life. — Spurgeon. 

Deceit is indeed nothing else but a lie reduced to practice, and false- 
hood passing from words into things. — South. 

Deceit is the false road to happiness; and all the joys we travel 
through to vice, like fairy banquets, vanish when we touch them. — A. Hill. 

Decency is the least of all laws, but yet it is the law which is most 
strictly observed. — Rochefoucauld. 

Virtue and decency are so nearly related that it is difficult to sepa- 
rate them from each other except in our imagination. — Cicero. 

Decision of character will often give to an inferior mind, command 
over a superior one. — W . Wirt. 

Men must be decided 424 on what they will not do, and then they are 
able to act with vigor on what they ought to do. — Mencvus. 

Our deeds are seeds of fate, sown here on earth, but bringing forth 
their harvest in eternity. — G. D. Boardman. 

Our deeds determine us as much as we determine our deeds. — George 
Eliot. 

Defeat is a school in which truth always grows better. — Beecher. 
What is defeat ? Nothing but education ; nothing but the first step 
to something better. — Wendell Phillips. 

Deference is the instinctive respect which we pay to the great and 
good — the unconscious acknowledgment of the superiority or excellence 
of others. — Tryon Edwards. 

Deference is the most delicate, the most indirect, and the most elegant 
of all compliments, and, before company, is the genteelest kind of flat- 
tery. — Shenstone. 

Definition is that which refines the pure essence of things from the 
circumstance. All arts acknowledge that then only we know certainly, 
when we can define. 482 - 498 . — Milton. 

Just definitions either prevent or put an end to disputes.— £mmoM.y. 



54& BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Delay has always been injurious to those who are prepared. — Lucan. 
In delay we waste our lights in vain ; like lights by day. — Shakespeare. 

Delicacy is to the affections what grace is to beauty. — Degerando. 

True delicacy, that most beautiful heart-leaf of humanity, exhibits 
itself most significantly in little things. — Mary Howitt. 

Violent delights have violent ends, and in their triumph die, like fire 
and powder, which, as they kiss, consume. — Shakespeare. 

Sensual delights soon end in loathing, quickly bring a glutting sur- 
feit, and degenerate into torments when they are continued and uninter- 
mitted. — John Howe. 

Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities. No man is 
happy without a delusion of some kind. — Bovee. 

The disappointment of manhood succeeds the delusion of youth. — 
Disraeli. 

Democracy will itself accomplish the salutary universal change from 
the delusive to the real, and make a new blessed world of us bye and 
bye. — Carlyle. 

The devil was the first democrat. — Byron. 

Dependence is a perpetual call upon humanity, and a greater incite- 
ment to tenderness and pity than any other motive power 419 whatever. — 
Thackeray. 

Dependence goes somewhat against the grain of a generous mind; 
and it is no wonder that it should do so, considering the unreasonable 
advantage which is often taken of the inequality of fortune. — Jeremy 
Collier. 

Desires 414 are the pulses of the soul: as physicians judge by the 
appetite, so may you by desires. — M ant on. 

When a man's desires are boundless, his labors are endless. They 
will set him a task he can never go through, and cut him out work he 
can never finish. The satisfaction he seeks is always absent, and the 
happiness he aims at is ever at a distance. — Balguy. 

My desolation begins to make a better life. — Shakespeare. 
No one is so utterly desolate, but some heart, though unknown, 
responds unto his own. — Longfellow. 

Despair 400 is the damp of hell, as serenity is the joy of heaven. — 
Donne. 

He that despairs measures Providence by his own little contracted 
model and limits infinite power to finite apprehensions. — South. 

Despondency is the most unprofitable feeling a man can indulge in. 
In the lottery of life, there are more prizes drawn than blanks, and to 
one misfortune there are fifty advantages. — De Witt Talmadge. 

To despond is to be ungrateful beforehand. Be not looking for evil. 
Often thou drainest the gall of fear while evil is passing by thy dwell- 
ing.— Tupper. 

Despotism can no more exist in a nation till the liberty of the press 
be destroyed, than the night can happen before the sun is set.— Colton. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FILE. 549 

Despots govern by terror. They know that he who fears God fears 
nothing else, and therefore they eradicate from the mind, through their 
Voltaire and Helvetius, and the rest of that infamous gang, that only 
sort of fear which generates true courage. — Burke. 

Destiny is the scape-goat which we make responsible for all our 
crimes and follies ; a necessity which we set down for invincible when 
we have no wish to strive against it. — Balfour. 

Thoughts lead on to purposes ; purposes go forth in actions ; actions 
form habits ; habits decide character ; and character fixes our destiny. 235 
— Tryon Edwards. 

Detraction always proves the weakness as well as meanness of the 
one who employs it. — E. L. Magoon. 

Base natures enjoy to see hard hap happen to them they deem 
happy. — Sir P. Sidney. 

Deviation from either truth or duty is a downward path, and none 
can say where the descent will end. — Tryon Edwards. 

When people once begin to deviate, they do not know where to 
stop. — George III. 

The devil knoweth his own, and is a particularly bad paymaster. — 
F. M. Crawford. 

No sooner is a temple built to God, than the devil builds a chapel 
(saloon?) hard by. — Herbert. 

Devotions resemble the rivers which run under the earth — they steal 
from the eyes of the world to seek the eyes of God ; and it often happens 
that those of whom we speak least on earth, are best known in heaven. — 
Caussin. 

All is holy where devotion kneels. — O. W . Holmes. 

Dew-drops are 162 the gems of morning, but the tears of mournful 
eve. — Coleridge. 

Earth's liquid jewelry, 1 ? 6 wrought of the air. — Bailey. 

Simple diet is best ; for many dishes bring many diseases ; and rich 
sauces are worse than even heaping several meats upon each other. — Pliny. 
A fig for your bill of fare. Show me your bill of company. — Swift. 

Difficulty is a severe instructor, set over us by the Supreme guardian 
and legislator, who knows us better than we know ourselves, and loves 
us better, too. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and 
sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper. — Burke. 

Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body. — Seneca. 

Dignity consists not in possessing honors, but in the consciousness 
that we deserve them. — Aristotle. 

Dignity and love do not blend well, nor do they continue long 
together. — Ovid. 

The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that 
would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools. — Confucius. 



550 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Diligence is the mother of good luck, and God gives all things to 
industry. Work while it is called to-day, for you know not how much 
you may be hindered tomorrow. One to-day is worth two tomorrows. 
Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do to-day. — Franklin. 

Dirt is not dirt, but only something in the wrong place. — Lord Palm- 
erston. 

"Ignorance," says Ajax, "is a painless evil." So, I should think, is 
dirt, considering the merry faces that go along with it. — George Bliot. 

How disappointment tracks the steps of hope I 19 ? 417 — £, jtf Landon. 
Man must be disappointed with the lesser things of life before he 
can comprehend the full value of the greater. — Bulwer. 

Discernment has an air of divination; it pleases our vanity more than 
any other quality of the mind. — Rochefoucauld. 

After a spirit of discernment, the next rarest things in the world are 
diamonds and pearls. — Bruyere. 

Discontents are sometimes the better part of our life. I know not 
which is the most useful. Joy I may choose for pleasure, but adversities 
are the best for profit; and sometimes these do so far help me, that I 
should, without them, want much of the joy I have. — Feltham. 

Save me from impious discontent at aught thy wisdom has denied or 
thy goodness has lent. — Pope. 

The discovery of a new principle is an inexhaustible source of new 
views. — Vauvenargues. 

If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more 
to patient attention, than to any other talent. — Sir Isaac Newton. 

Discretion in speech is more than eloquence. — Bacon. 
Discretion is the salt and fancy the sugar of life; the one preserves 
the other sweetens it. — Bovee. 

Fair discussion will ever be found the firmest friend of truth. — 
G. Campbell. 

He that is not open to conviction is not qualified for discussion. — 
Whateley. 

Disgrace is not in the punishment, but in the crime. — AlHeri. 
Whatever disgrace we may have deserved, or incurred, it is almost 
always in our power to re-establish our character. — Rochefoucauld. 

Dishonesty is a forsaking of permanent for temporary advantages. — 
Bovee. 

He who purposely cheats his friend, would cheat his God. — Lavater. 

Disobedient children, if preserved from the gallows, are reserved for 
the rack, to be tortured by their own posterity. One complaining that 
never father had so undutiful a child as he had, yes, said his son, with 
less grace than truth, my grandfather had. — Fuller. 

Wherever there is authority, there is a natural inclination to dis- 
obedience. — Haliburton. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FH*E. 55 * 

Dispatch is the soul of business.— Chesterfield. 

True dispatch is a rich thing, for time is the measure of business, 
as money is of wares; and business is bought at a dear hand where there 
is small dispatch. — Bacon. 

Dissimulation in youth is the forerunner of perfidy in old age— Blair. 

Dissimulation is ever but a faint kind of policy or wisdom, for it 
asketh a strong wit and a strong heart to know when to tell the truth, 
and to do it; therefore it is the weaker sort of politicians that are the 
greatest dissemblers. — Bacon. 

Dissipation is absolutely a labor when the round of Vanity Fair has 
once been made ; but fashion makes us think lightly of the toil, and we 
describe the circle as mechanically as a horse in a mill. — Zimmerman. 

There is a dissipation of thoughts™ anc i feeling, 372 as well as of bodily 
energies ; and the latter is as wasteful and ruinous to the mind and heart, 
as the former is to the strength and health of the body. — Anon. 

Domestic happiness — thou only bliss of paradise that has survived 
the fall. — Cowper. 

Domestic happiness is the end of almost all our pursuits, and the 
common reward of all our pains. — Fielding. 

Nothing so much convinces me of the boundlessness of the human 
mind as its operations in dreaming. — Clulow. 

Dreams full oft are found of real events the forms and shadows. — 
Joanna Bailey. 

Dress yourself fine where others are fine, and plain where others are 
plain ; but take care always that your clothes are well made and fit you, 
for otherwise they will give you a very awkward air. — Chesterfield. 

If honor be your clothing, the suit will last a life-time ; but if cloth- 
ing be your honor, it will soon be worn threadbare. — Arnot. 

Drunkenness places man as much below the level of the brutes, as 
reason elevates him above them. — Sinclair. 

The Japanese say, "A man takes a drink, then the drink takes a 
drink, and the next drink takes the man." 

E 

Earnestness is enthusiasm tempered by reason. 3 ^ 1 .— Pascal. 

Earnestness commands the respect of mankind. A wavering vacil- 
lating, dead-and-alive Christian does not get the respect of the church 
or of the world. — John Hall. 

Earth with her thousand voices praises God. — Coleridge. 
I believe the earth on which we stand is but the vestibule to glorious 
mansions, to which a moving crowd is forever passing. — Joanna Bailey. 

Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of char- 
acter has abounded. And the amount of eccentricity in a society has been 
proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage 
it contained. — 7. S. Mill. 

Even beauty cannot palliate eccentricity.— Balzac. 



55 2 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Echo is the shadow of a sound, a voice without a mouth, and words 
without a tongue. 161 — Horace Smith. 

The babbling gossip of the air. — Shakespeare. 

Economy is in itself a source of great revenue. — Seneca. 

Economy is the parent of integrity, of liberty and of ease. — Hawkes- 
worth. 

Egotism is the tongue of vanity. — Cham fort. 

An egotist is a man who talks so much about himself that he gives 
me no time to talk about myself. 218 — H. L. Wayland. 

Eloquence is logic on fire. 433 — Lyman Beecher. 

Eloquence is in the assembly, not merely in the speaker. — Wm. Pitt. 

Emotion 394 turning back on itself, and not leading on to thought 
or action, is the element of madness. — /. Sterling. 

Emotion which does not lead to and flow out in right action is not 
only useless, but it weakens character, and becomes an excuse for neglect 
of effort. — Tryon Edwards. 

Employment is nature's physician, and is essential to human happi- 
ness. — Galen. 

Employment and ennui are simply incompatible. — Madam Deluzy. 

Emulation admires and strives to imitate great actions ; envy 412 is only 
moved to malice. — Balzac. 

Emulation looks out for merits, that she may exalt herself by a vic- 
tory; envy spies out blemishes, that she may have another by defeat. — 
Colton. 

The end crowns all, and that old common arbitrator, time, will one 
day end all. — Shakespeare. 

All's well that ends well ; still the finis is the crown. — Shakespeare. 

Our enemies come nearer the truth in opinions they form of us than 
we do in our opinion of ourselves. — Rochefoucauld. 

Have you fifty friends? it is not enough. Have you one enemy? it 
is too many. — Italian Proverb. 

Energy will do anything that can be done in this world ; and no 
talent, no circumstances, no opportunities, will make a two legged animal 
a man without it. — Goethe. 

There is no genius in life like the genius of energy and activity. — 
D. G. Mitchell. 

No enjoyment, however inconsiderable, is confined to the present 
moment. A man is the happier for life from having made once an agree- 
able tour, or lived for any length of time with pleasant people, or enjoyed 
any considerable interval of innocent pleasure. — Sidney Smith. 

Those who would enjoyment gain must find it in the purpose they 
pursue. — Mrs. Hale. 

Ennui is the desire of activity without the fit means of gratifying 
the desire. — Bancroft. 

Ennui is one of our greatest enemies; remunerative labor, our most 
lasting friend.— Moser. 



BKST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FILE. 553 

Enthusiasm is a virtue rarely to be met with in seasons of calm and 
unruffled prosperity. It flourishes in adversity, kindles in the hour of 
danger, and awakens to deeds of renown. The terrors of persecution only 
serve to quicken the energy of its purposes. It swells in proud integrity, 
and, great in the purity of its cause, it can scatter defiance in the face of 
hosts of enemies. — Chalmers. 

Every production of genius must be the production of enthusiasm. — 
Disraeli. 

Envy 412 has no other quality but that of detracting from virtue. — 
Livy. 

Envy is a passion so full of cowardice and shame, that nobody ever 
had the confidence to own it. — Rochester. 

Epitaphs are the abstract and brief chronicles of the time; after your 
death, you were better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you 
live. — Shakespeare. 

If all would speak as kindly of the living, as in epitaphs they do of 
the dead, slander and censorious gossip would soon be strangers in the 
world. — Anon. 

Equality is the share of every one at their advent upon earth, and 
equality is also theirs when placed beneath it. — Bnclos. 

In the gates of eternity, the black hand and the white one hold each 
other with an equal clasp. — Mrs. Stowe. 

Equity is a roguish thing. For law we have a measure, and know what 
to trust to ; equity is according to the conscience of him that is chan- 
cellor, and as that is larger or narrower, so is equity. — Selden. 

Equity is that exact rule of righteousness or justice which is to be 
observed between man and man. It is beautifully and comprehensively 
expressed in the golden rule. —Buck. 

Error 469 is sometimes so nearly allied to truth 4 ? that it blends with it 
as imperceptibly as the colors of the rainbow fade into each other. — 
Clulow. 

Errors to be dangerous must have a great deal of truth mingled with 
them. It is only from this alliance that they can ever obtain an extensive 
circulation. — Sidney Smith. 

Esteem 409 has more engaging charms than friendship, and even love. 
It captivates hearts better, and never makes ingrates. — Rouchefoucauld. 
All true love 410 is founded on esteem. — Buckingham. 

Evasion is unworthy of us, and is always the intimate of equivocation. 
— Balzac. 

Evasions are the common shelter of the hard-hearted, the false, and 
the impotent, when called upon to assist. — Lavater. 

Events of all sorts creep or fly, exactly as God pleases. — Cowper. 
Often do the spirits of great events stride on before the events, and in 
to-day already walks to-morrow. — Coleridge. 

Evil is in antagonism with the entire creation. — Zschokke. 

Much that we call evil is really good in disguise ; and we should not 



554 BEST THOUGHTS OF BE)ST THINKERS. 

quarrel rashly with adversities not yet understood, nor overlook the mer- 
cies often bound up in them. — Sir T. Browne. 

Exaggeration is a blood relation to falsehood, and nearly as blame- 
able. — H. Ballou. 

Exaggeration has no strength; even the truth is weakened by being 
expressed too strongly. — Anon. 

Note. — The above applies to Exaggeration used in a literal 
way; not as a figure of speech. — See Hyperbola. 209 . 

Example is more forcible than precept. People look at my six days 
in the week to see what I mean on the seventh. — Cecil. 

The first great gift we can bestow on others is a good example. — 
Morell. 

There is a moral excellence attainable by those who have the will to 
strive for it; but there is an intellectual and physical superiority which is 
above the reach of our wishes, and is granted to only a few. — Crabbe. 

Excellence is never granted to man but as the reward of labor. — 
Sir J. Reynolds. 

Excess generally causes reaction and produces a change in the oppo- 
site direction, whether it be in the seasons, in individuals, or in govern- 
ment. — Plato. 

Let pleasure be ever so innocent, the excess is always criminal. 617 — 
Bvremond. 

Experience is the extract of suffering. — A. Helps. 

Every man's experience of to-day is that he was a fool yesterday and 
the day before yesterday. To-morrow he will most likely be of exactly 
the same opinion. — Mackay. 

Extreme views are never just; something always turns up which dis- 
turbs the calculations founded on their data. — Tancred. 

Extremes meet in almost everything: it is hard to tell whether the 
statesman at the top of the world, or the plowman at the bottom, labors 
the hardest. — Anon. 

The eye is the pulse of the soul. As physicians judge the heart by 
the pulse, so we by the eye. — T. Adams. 

The eyes are the pioneers that first announce the soft tale of love. — 
Propertius. 

F 

Faces are as legible as books, with this in their favor, that they may 
be learned in much less time, and are less liable to be misunderstood. — 
F. Saunders. 

Your face is 161 a book where men may read strange matters. — Shakes- 
peare. 

Faction is the demon of discord armed with power to do endless mis- 
chief, and intent only on destroying whatever opposes its progress. Woe 
to that state in which it has found an entrance. — Crabbe. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FllX 555 

Faction is the excess and abuse of party. It begins when the first 
idea of private interest, preferred to public good, gets footing in the heart. 
It is always dangerous, yet always contemptible. — Chenevix. 

Facts are God's arguments. 44 ^ We should be careful never to mis- 
understand or pervert them. — Tryon Edwards. 

Any fact is better established by two or three good testimonies, than 
by a thousand arguments. 468 — Bmmons. 

Every failure is a step to success; every detection of what is false 
directs us toward what is true; every trial exhausts some tempting form 
of error. Not only so, but scarcely any attempt is entirely a failure; 
scarcely any theory, the result of steady thought, is altogether false; no 
tempting form of error is without some latent charm derived from truth. 
— Whewell. 

Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, inasmuch as every dis- 
covery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and 
every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall after- 
ward carefully avoid. — Keats. 

Faith must have adequate evidence, else it is a mere superstition.— 
A. A. Hodge. 

The saddest thing that can befall a soul is when it loses faith in God 
and woman. — Alexander Smith. 

Falsehood is never so successful as when she baits her hook with 
truth, and no opinions so fatally mislead us, as those that are not wholly 
wrong; as no watches so effectually deceive the wearer as those that are 
sometimes, right. 471 — Colton. 

Falsehood has an infinity of combinations, but truth has one mode of 
being. 4 79 480 — Rousseau. 

Fame, to the ambitious, is like salt water to the thirsty, — the more 
one gets, the more he wants. — Bbers. 

Fame is a flower upon a dead man's heart. — Motherwell. 

" A family without government," says Matthew Henry, " is like a 
house without a roof, exposed to every wind that blows." He might bet- 
ter have said, like a house in flames, a scene of confusion, and commonly 
too hot to live in. — Anon. 

A happy family is but an earlier heaven. — Bowring. 

Fanaticism is the child of false zeal and superstition, the father of 
intolerance and persecution. — Fletcher. 

What is fanaticism to-day is the fashionable creed to-morrow, and 
trite as the multiplication table a week after. — Wendell Phillips. 

Fancy rules over two-thirds of the universe, the past and future, 
while reality is confined to the present. — Richter. 

Fancy and humor, early and constantly indulged, may expect an old 
age overrun with follies. — Watts. 

Fashion seldoms interferes with nature without diminishing her 
grace and efficiency. — Tuckerman. 

Fashion is a tyrant from which nothing frees us. We must suit our- 



556 BEST THOUGHTS OF BE&T THINKERS. 

selves to its fantastic tastes. But being compelled to live under its foolish 
laws, the wise man is never the first to follow, nor the last to keep them. 
— Pascal. 

Fastidiousness is the envelope of indelicacy. — Haliburton. 

Fastidiousness is often inconsistent with itself. The coarsest things 
are done and the crudest things are said by the most fastidious people. — 
Mrs. Kirkland. 

Fate is not the ruler, but the servant of Providence. — Bulwer. 

A strict belief in fate is the worst kind of slavery; on the other hand, 
there is comfort in the belief that God will be moved by our prayers. — 
Epicurus. 

Faults of the head 374 are punished in this world, those of the heart 37 ^ 
in another ; but as most of our vices are compound, so also is their pun- 
ishment. — Colton. 

To find fault is easy ; to do better may be difficult. — Plutarch. 

Fear 418 is the tax that conscience pays to guilt. — Sewell. 
Fear is more painful to cowardice than death to true 'courage. — 
Sir P. Sidney. 

Feelings 372 come and go, like light troops following the victory of 
the present ; but principles, like troops of the line, are undisturbed, and 
stand fast. — Richter. 

Feeling hearts, touch them but rightly, pour a thousand melodies 
unheard before. — Rogers. 

Fiction^ is no longer a mere amusement; but transcendent genius, 
accomodating itself to the character of the age, has seized upon this prov- 
ince of literature, and turned fiction from a toy into a mighty engine. — 
Channing. 

Fiction is not falsehood, as some seem to think. It is rather the 
fanciful and dramatic grouping of real traits around imaginary scenes or 
characters. It may give false views of men or things, or it may, in the 
hands of a master, more truthfully portray life than sober history itself. — 
Try on Edwards. 

Fidelity is the sister ot justice. — Horace. 

Fidelity is seven-tenths of business success. — Parton. 

Firmness, both in suffering and exertion, is a character which I would 
wish to possess. I have always despised the whining yelp of complaint, 
and the cowardly feeble resolve. — Bums. 

When firmness is sufficient, rashness is unnecessary. — Napoleon. 

Flattery is never so agreeable as to our blind side ; commend a fool 
for his wit, or a knave for his honesty, and they will receive you into 
their bosom. — Fielding. 

Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver ; and adulation is 
not of more service to the people than to kings. — Burke. 

Flowers are the sweetest things that God ever made and forgot to put 
a soul into. — Beecher. 



B£ST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE: ?HX 557 

The flowers are nature's jewels with whose wealth she decks her 
summer beauty.— Croly. 

Folly consists in drawing false conclusions from just principles, by 
which it is distinguished from madness, which draws just conclusions 
from false principles. — Locke. 

The wise man has his follies no less than the fool ; but herein lies the 
difference — the follies of the fool are known to the world, but are hid- 
den from himself; the follies of the wise man are known to himself, 
but hidden from the world. — Colton. 

Foppery is the egotism of clothes. — Victor Hugo. 

Fops take a world of pains to prove that bodies can exist without 
brains; the former so fantastically dress'd that the latter's absence may 
be safely guessed. — Churchill. 

Forbearance should be cultivated till your heart yields a fine crop of 
it. Pray for a short memory as to all unkindness. — Spurgeon. 

The kindest and the happiest pair will find occasion to forbear; find 
something every day they live, to pity, and perhaps forgive. — Cowper. 

Forgive many things in others; nothing in yourself. — Ausonius. 
Life, that ever needs forgiveness, has for its first duty to forgive. — 
Bulwer. 

Forms are but symbols ; we should never rest in them, but make them 
the stepping stones to the good to which they point. — Anon. 

Of what use are forms, seeing at times they are empty? Of the same 
use as barrels, which, at times, are empty too. — Hare. 

Fortitude I take to be the quiet possession of a man's self, and an 
undisturbed doing his duty whatever evils beset, or dangers lie in the 
way. In itself an essential virtue, it is a guard to every other virtue. — 
Locke. 

The human race are sons of sorrow born; and each must have its 
proportion. Vulgar minds refuse, and crouch beneath their load; the 
brave bear theirs without repining. — Mallet. 

Fortune is ever seen accompanying industry, and is as often trundling 
in a wheelbarrow, as lolling in a coach. — Goldsmith. 

" Fortune knocks at every man's door once in a lifetime," but in a good 
many cases the man is in a neighboring saloon and does not hear her. — 
Mark Twain. 

Fraud generally lights a candle for justice to get a look at it; and 
a rogue's pen indites the warrant for his own arrest. — Anon. 

All frauds, like the wall daubed with untempered mortar, with which 
men think to buttress up an edifice, always tends to the decay of what 
they are devised to support. — Whately. 

The freedom worth possessing is that which gives enlargement to a 
peoples energy, intellect and virtues. The savage makes his boast of 
freedom. But what is it worth? He is, indeed, free from what he calls 
the yoke of civil institutions. But other and worse chains bind him. 



55& B£ST THOUGHTS Dtf BEST THINKERS. 

The very privation of civil government is in itself a chain; for, by with- 
holding protection from property it virtually shackles the arm of industry, 
and forbids exertion for the amelioration of his lot. Progress, the 
growth of intelligence and power, is the end and boon of liberty; and, 
without this, a people may have . the name, but want the substance and 
spirit of freedom. — Channing. 

True freedom consists with the observance of law. The only free- 
dom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good, in our 
own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or 
impede their efforts to obtain it. — /. S. Mill. 

I dare no more fret than I dare curse and swear. — 7. Wesley. 
Fretfulness of temper will generally characterize those who are negli- 
gent of order. — Blair. 

Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness 
of which all mankind are agreed. — Cicero. 

Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by doubling our 
joy, and dividing our grief. — Addison. 

By sowing frugality we reap 177 liberty, a golden harvest. 177 — Agesilaus. 
Frugality is a fair fortune; and habits of industry a good estate. — 
Franklin. 

The future is always a fairy land to the young. — Sala. 
Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the 
handle of anxiety or the handle of faith. — Anon. 

G 

Gallantry consists in saying the most empty things in an agreeable 
manner. — Rochefoucauld. 

Gallantry to women — the sure road to their favor — is nothing but the 
appearance of extreme devotion to all their wants and wishes, a delight in 
their satisfaction, and a confidence in yourself as being able to contribute 
toward it. — Hazlitt. 

Gambling is the child of avarice, the brother of iniquity, and the 
father of mischief. — Washington. 

Gambling is the child 177 of avarice, but the parent 177 of prodigality. 
— Colton. 

Gayety is not a proof that the heart is at ease, for often in the midst 
of laughter the heart 372 is sad. — Madame De Genlis. 

Gayety is often the reckless ripple over the depths of despair. 161 — 
E. H. Chapin. 

Generosity is a duty 624 628 as indispensably necessary as those imposed 
on us by law. It is a rule imposed by reason, which should be the sover- 
eign law of a rational being. — Goldsmith. 

There is wisdom in generosity, as well as in everything else. A 
friend to everybody is often a friend to nobody ; or else, in his simplicity, 
he robs his family to help strangers, and so becomes brother to a beggar. 
— Spurgeon. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FILE. 559 

Genius is supposed to be a power of producing excellencies which are 
out of the reach of the rules of art ; a power which no precepts can teach, 
and which no industry can acquire. — Sir Joshua Reynolds. 

Genius is infinite painstaking.— Longfellow. 

How weak a thing is gentility, if it wants virtue ! — Fuller. 
Gentility is neither in birth, wealth, manner or fashion, but in the 
mind. — Anon. 

Gentleman is a term that does not apply to any station, but to the 
mind and feeling in every station. — Talfourd. 

We sometimes meet an original gentleman, who, if manners had not 
existed, would have invented them. — Emerson. 

Gentleness is founded on a sense of what we owe to him who made 
us, and to the common nature which we all share. It arises from reflec- 
tion on our own failings and wants, and from just views of the condition 
and duty of men. It is native feeling 375 heightened and improved by 
principle. — Blair. 

Nothing is so strong as gentleness ; nothing so gentle as real strength. 
— Francis de Sales. 

Give what you have. To some one, it may be better than you dare 
to think. — Longfellow. 

He who loves with purity, considers not the gift of the lover, but 
the love of the giver. — Thomas a Kent pis. 

If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. — Voltaire. 
The demand of the human understanding for causation requires but 
the one, old and only answer, God. — Dexter. 

Gold, like 153 the sun, which melts wax but hardens clay, expands great 
souls and contracts bad hearts. 184 . — Rivarol. 

There is no place so high that 176 an ass laden with gold 179, cannot 
reach it. — Rojas. 

Good-breeding is benevolence in trifles, or the preference of others 
to ourselves in the daily occurrences of life. — Lord Chatham. 

Good-breeding is the art of showing men, by external signs, the inter- 
nal regard we have for them. — Cato. 

Good humor is the oil and wine of a merry meeting, and there is no 
jovial companionship equal to that where the jokes are rather small, and 
the laughter abundant. 285 . — Washington Irving. 

Good humor is the health of the soul ; sadness is its poison. — Stanis- 
laus. 

Good nature is stronger than tomahawks. — Emerson. 

Good nature is the beauty of the mind, and like personal beauty, wins 
almost without anything else — sometimes, indeed, in spite of positive defi- 
ciencies. — Hanway. 

Goodness 630 consists not in the outward things we do, but in the 
inward things we are. To be good is the great thing.— E. H. Chapin. 



560 BEST THOUGHTS Otf BEST THINKERS. 

A good man is influenced by God himself, and has a kind of divinity 
within him ; so it may be a question whether he goes to heaven, or heaven 
comes to him. — Seneca. 

The gospel in all its doctrines and duties appears infinitely superior 
to any human composition. — Emmons. , 

God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees, and flow- 
ers, and clouds, and stars. — Luther. 

Gossip is the henchman 161 of rumor and scandal. — Feuillet. 
Tale bearers are just as bad as tale makers. — Sheridan. 

God demands of those who manage the affairs of the government that 
they should be courageously true to the interests of the people, and the 
Ruler of the universe will require of them a strict account of their 
stewardship. — Grover Cleveland. 

Government is only a necessary evil, like other go-carts and crutches. 
Our need of it shows exactly how far we are still children. All over-much 
governing kills the self-help and energy of the governed. — Wendell 
Phillips. 

That word "Grace" in an ungracious mouth is profane. — Shakespeare. 
Grace is but glory begun, and glory is but grace perfected. — Jonathan 
Edwards. 

Gracefulness has been defined to be the outward expression of the 
inward harmony of the soul. — Hazlitt. 

All the actions and attitudes of children are graceful because they 
are the offspring of the moment, without affectation, and free from all 
pretense. — Fuseli. 

Gratitude 416 is not only the memory but the homage of the heart. — 
rendered to God for his goodness. — N. P. Willis. 

When I find a great deal of gratitude in a poor man, I take it for 
granted there would be as much generosity if he were rich. — Pope. 

The grave buries every error, covers every defect, extinguishes every 
resentment. From its peaceful bosom spring none but fond regrets and 
tender recollections. Who can look down upon the grave of an enemy, 
and not feel a compunctious throb that he should have warred with the 
poor handful of dust that lies moldering before him. — Washington Irving. 

A grave, wherever found, preaches a short and pithy sermon to the 
soul. — Hawthorne. 

Gravity is but the rind of wisdom, but it is a preservative rind. 177 — 
Joubert. 

Gravity is 161 the ballast of the soul, which keeps the mind steady. — 
fuller. 

Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right use of strength. — 
Beecher. 

If any man seeks for greatness, let him forget greatness and ask for 
truth, and he will find both. — Horace Mann. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FILE. 561 

Grief 394 knits two hearts in closer bonds than happiness ever can; 
common sufferings are far stronger links than common joys. — Lamartine. 

Grief should be like joy, majestic, sedate, confirming, cleansing, 
equable, making free, strong to consume small troubles, to command great 
thoughts, grave thoughts, thoughts lasting to the end. — De Vere. 

Guests unbidden are often welcomest when they are gone. — Shakes- 
peare. 

The first day, a guest ; the second, a burden ; the third, a pest. — 
Lab onlay e. 

Guilt is the source of sorrow, the avenging fiend that follows us be- 
hind with whips and stings. 632 — Rowe. 

Guilt once harbored in the conscious breast, intimidates the brave, 
degrades the great. — Johnson. 

H 

Habit is a cable. We weave a thread of it every day, and at last we 
cannot break it. — Horace Mann. 

Habits are to the soul what the veins and arteries are to the blood, 
the courses in which it moves. — Horace Bushnell. 

The hair is the richest ornament of women. Of old, virgins used to 
wear it loose, except when they were in mourning. — Luther. 

Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare, 306 , 309 and beauty draws us 
with a single hair. — Pope. 

Happiness is not the end of life; character 623 is. — Beecher. 
Happiness can be built only on virtue, and must of necessity have 
truth for its foundation. — Coleridge. 

Haste trips its own heels, 177 and fetters and stops itself. — Seneca. 
The more haste ever the worst speed. 184 — Churchill. 

Hatred is the madness of the heart. — Byron. 

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal 
rule. — Buddha. 

Health is the greatest of all possessions ; a hale cobbler is better than 
a sick king. — Bickerstaff. 

Joy, temperance and repose, slam the door on the doctor's nose. 177 — 
Longfellow. 

When the heart speaks, glory itself is an illusion. — Napoleon. 
The heart 372 gets weary, but never gets old. A loving heart is the 
truest wisdom. — Dickens. 

Heaven must be in me before I can be in heaven. — Stanford. 
Heaven will be the endless portion of every man who has heaven in 
his soul. — Beecher. 

Hell is as ubiquitous as condemning conscience. 632 — F. W. Robertson. 
Hell is truth seen too late — duty neglected in its season. — Try on 
Bdwards. 



562 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

When a person is down in the world, an ounce 177 of help is better 
than a pound of preaching. — Bulwer. 

Help thyself and God will help thee. — Herbert. 

Heroes in history seem to us poetic because they are there. But if 
we should tell the simple truth of some of our neighbors, it would sound 
like poetry. — G. W . Curtis. 

The grandest of heroic deeds are those which are performed within 
four walls and in domestic privacy. — Richter. 

History is but the development and revelation of Providence. — 
Kossuth. 

History is but the unrolled scroll of prophecy. — Garfield. 

Holiness is the architectural plan on which God buildeth up his living 
temple. 163 — Spurgeon. 

Holiness is the symmetry of the soul. — Philip Henry. 

The sweetest type of heaven is home. — /. G. Holland. 
Home is the sphere of harmony and peace, the spot where angels find 
a resting place, when bearing blessings they descend to earth. — S. J. Hale. 

Honesty is the best policy. — Franklin. 

An honest man's the noblest work of God. — Pope. 

Honor is like 153 the eye, which cannot suffer the least impurity with- 
out damage. It is 161 a precious stone, the price of which is lessened by a 
single flaw. — Bossuet. 

Let honor be to us as strong an obligation as necessity is to others. — 
Pliny. 

Hope 417 is the only good that is common to all men; those who have 
nothing else possess hope still. — Thales. 

Hope is like 153 the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the 
shadow of our burden behind us. — S. Smiles. 

Our humanity were a poor thing but for the divinity that stirs within 
us. — Bacon. 

I am a man and whatever concerns humanity is of interest to me. — 
Terence. 

Humility is 161 the root, mother, nurse, foundation, and bond of all 
virtue. — Chrysostom. 

Humility, like 153 darkness, reveals the heavenly lights. — Thoreau. 

Hypocrisy is folly. It is much easier, safer, and pleasanter to be the 
thing which a man aims to appear, than to keep up the appearance of what 
he is not. — Cecil. 

Hypocrisy is the necessary burden of villainy. — Johnson. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FILE. 5^3 

I 

Ideality is only the avant-courier of the mind, and where that, in a 
healthy and normal state goes, I hold it to be a prophecy that realization 
can follow. — H. Mann. 

What we need most is not so much to realize the ideal as to idealize 
the real. — Hedge. 

443 Ideas go booming through the world louder than cannon. 177 
Thoughts 436 are mightier than armies. Principles 471 have achieved more 
victories than horsemen or chariots. — W. M. Paxton. 

Ideas are the great warriors of the world, and a war that has no ideas 
behind it is simply a brutality. — Garfield. 

Idleness is the stupidity of the body, and stupidity is the idleness of 
the mind. — Seume. 

Idleness travels very slowly and poverty soon overtakes her. 177 — 
Hunter. 

Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon or 
star. — Confucius. 

Nothing is so indicative of deepest culture as a tender consideration 
of the ignorant. — Emerson. 

The fear of ill exceeds the ill we fear 418 . — Anon. 

The ills of life are often blessings in disguise, resulting in good to us 
in the end. — M. Henry. 

Imagination 386 is the eye of the soul. — Joubert. 
Imagination rules the world. — Napoleon. 

Imitation belittles. — Bovee. 

He who imitates evil always goes beyond the example ; he who imi- 
tates what is good always falls short. — Guicciardini. 

Immortality is the greatness of our being; the scene for attaining the 
fulness and perfection of our existence. — G. Simmons. 

I ask no risen dust to teach me immortality. I am conscious 431 of 
eternal life. — Theodore Parker. 

Impatience dries the blood sooner than age or sorrow. — Cleon. 

Impatience turns an ague into a fever, a fever to the plague, fear into 
despair, anger into rage, loss into madness, and sorrow into amazement. 394 
— Jeremy Taylor. 

He censures God who quarrels with the imperfections of men. — Burke. 
Imperfection is in some sort essential to all that we know of life. 
Nothing that lives is or can be rigidly perfect. — Ruskin. 

"Impossible !" That is not good French. — Napoleon. 

"Impossible!" Never let me hear that foolish word again. — Mirabeau. 

Inconstancy is but a name to fright poor lovers from a better choice. — 
Rutter. 

Clocks will go as they are set; but man, irregular man, is never 
constant, never certain. — Otway. 



564 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

The incredulous are of all men the most credulous ; they believe in 
the miracles of Vespasian, in order not to believe those of Moses. — Pascal. 

Incredulity robs us of many pleasures and gives us nothing in return. 
— /. R. Lowell. 

Independency may he found in comparative as well as in absolute 
abundance; I mean where a person contracts his desires within the limits 
of his fortune. — Shenstone. 

The greatest of all human benefits, that, at least, without which no 
other benefit can be truly enjoyed, is independence. — Parke Godwin. 

An index is a necessary implement, without which a large author is but 
a labyrinth without a clue to direct the readers within. — Fuller. 

I have come to regard a good book as curtailed of half its value, if 
it has not a pretty full index. It is almost impossible without such a 
guide, to reproduce on demand the most striking thoughts or facts the 
book contains, whether for citation or further consideration. — Horace 
Binney. 

Indifference is the invincible giant of the world. — Ouida. 

Indifference never wrote great works, nor thought out striking inven- 
tions, nor reared the solemn architecture that awes the soul, nor breathed 
sublime music, nor painted glorious pictures, nor undertook heroic philan- 
thropies. All these grandeurs are born of enthusiasm, and are done 
heartily. — Anon. 

Indiscretion and wickedness, be it known, are first cousins. — UBnclos. 
Indiscretion, rashness, falsehood, levity, and malice produce each 
other. — Lavater. 

Individuality is everywhere to be spared and respected as the root of 
everything good. — Richter. 

Everything without tells the individual that he is nothing; everything 
within tells him that he is everything. — X. Doudan. 

Indolence is the sleep of the mind. — Vauvenargues. 

Indolence is the dry rot 177 of even a good mind and a good character ; 
the practical uselessness of both. It is the waste of what might be a 
happy and useful life. — Tryon Edwards. 

Industry is not only the instrument of improvement, but the founda- 
tion of pleasure. He who is a stranger to it may possess but cannot 
enjoy, for it is labor only which gives relish to pleasure. It is the indis- 
pensable condition of possessing a sound mind in a sound body, and it is 
the appointed vehicle of every good to man. — Blair. 

Industry keeps the body healthy, the mind clear, the heart whole, and 
the purse full. — C. Simmons. 

Infamy is where it is received. If thou art a mud wall, it will stick, 
if marble, it will rebound. If thou storm, it is thine; if thou contemn it, 
it is his. — Quarles. 

The most infamous are fond of fame; and those that fear not guilt, 
yet start at shame. — Churchill. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FILE. 565 

Infancy ! — Heaven lies about us in our infancy. — Wordsworth. 

Joy thou bringest, but mixed with trembling; anxious joys and tender 
fears ; pleasing hopes, and mingled sorrows ; smiles of transport dashed 
with tears 305-3io_Cottte. 

Infidelity relaxes every band, and nullifies every blessing. — Pestalozzi. 
Infidelity grows strong under oppressive civil rule ; weak under that 
which is just. — Christlieb. 

We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us 
with our fellow men; and along these fibers, as sympathetic threads, our 
actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects. — Melville. 

Influence never dies ; every act, emotion, look and word makes influ- 
ence tell for good or evil, happiness or woe, through the long future of 
eternity. — Anon. 

Ingratitude is the abridgment of all baseness ; a fault never found 
unattended with other viciousness. — Fuller. 

Filial ingratitude ! 196 — Is it not 153 as this mouth should tear this hand 
for lifting food to it? 193 . — Shakespeare. 

The injuries of life, if rightfully improved, will be to us 153 as the 
strokes of the statuary on his marble, forming us to a more beautiful 
shape and making us fitter to adorn the heavenly temple. — Cotton Mather. 

He who tries to injure another injures himself more. — H. D. Gould. 

Ink is 161 the colored slave that waits upon thy thought, and sends that 
thought, without a voice, to the ends of the earth. — Anon. 
A drop of ink may make a million think. — Byron. 

Innocence is like 153 polished armor ; it adorns and defends. — South. 
He is armed without who is innocent within, be this thy screen, and 
this thy wall of brass. 177 — Horace. 

Inquisitive people are the funnels of conversation ; they do not take 
in anything for their own use, but merely pass it to another. — Steele. 

Inquisitiveness or curiosity is a kernel of the forbidden fruit, which 
still sticketh in the throat of a natural man, and sometimes to the danger 
of his choking. — Fuller. 

Insanity destroys reason, but not wit. — Emmons. 

Insane people easily detect the nonsense of other people. — Hallam. 

Nothing is more disgraceful than insincerity. — Cicero. 

Insincerity in a man's own heart must make all his enjoyments — all 
that concerns him, unreal ; so that his whole life must seem like a merely 
dramatic representation. — Hawth orne. 

Inspiration is such a divine superintendence over the books of the 
Bible as makes them a trustworthy, infallible and safe guide. — Joseph Cook. 

There is a deity within us who breathes that divine fire by which we 
are animated. — Ovid. 



566 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

The instinct 429 of brutes and insects can be the effect of nothing else 
than the wisdom and skill of a powerful and ever-living agent. — Newton. 

A goose flies by a chart which the Royal Geographical Society could 
not mend. — O. W . Holmes. 

Instruction is given the wise by reason; ordinary minds, by expe- 
rience ; the stupid, by necessity ; and brutes by instinct. — Cicero. 
Life is but one continual course of instruction. — R. Hill. 

Oppression is more easily borne than insult. — Junius. 
Insults are procured by submitting to them. A man meets with no 
more respect than he exacts. — Hazlitt. 

Integrity is the first step to true greatness. Men love to praise, but 
are slow to practice it. To maintain it in high places, costs self-denial ; 
and in all places it is liable to opposition, but its end is glorious, and the 
universe will yet do it homage. — C. Simmons. 

A man of integrity will never listen to any plea against conscience. — 
Home. 

Intellect lies behind genius, which is intellect constructive. Intellect 
is the simple power, anterior to all action or construction. — Emerson. 

The intellect has only one failing, which, to be sure, is a very con- 
siderable one. It has no conscience. Napoleon is the readiest instance of 
this. If his heart had borne any proportion to his brain, he had been one 
of the greatest men in all history. — /. R. Lowell. 

Intelligence is a luxury, sometimes useless, sometimes fatal. It is a 
torch or a firebrand, according to the use one makes of it. — Caballero. 

Intelligence increases mere physical ability one-half. The use of the 
head abridges the labor of the hands. — Beecher. 

When interest is at variance with conscience, any pretence that seems 
to reconcile them satisfies the hollow-hearted. — Home. 

Interest makes some people blind and others quick sighted. — Beau- 
mont. 

Intolerance has been the curse of every age and state. — S. Davies. 
It were better to be of no church than to be bitter for any. — Penn. 

Invention is the talent of youth, as judgment is of age. — Swift. 

Invention is a kind of muse, which, being possessed of the other 
advantages common to her sisters, and being warmed by the fire of 
Apollo, is raised higher than the rest. — Dryden. 

Irony2i4 is to the high bred what billingsgate is to the vulgar; and 
when one gentleman thinks another gentleman an ass, he does not say 
it point blank : he implies it in the politest terms he can invent. — Bulwer. 

Clap an extinguisher upon your irony, if you are unhappily blessed 
with a vein of it. — Lamb. 

Irresolution frames a thousand horrors, embodying each. — /. Martyn. 

Irresolution on the schemes of life which offer themselves to our 
choice, and inconstancy in pursuing them, are the greatest causes of all 
our unhappiness. — Addison. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FIIX 5^7 



Jealousy 413 is the sister of love, as the devil is the brother of angels. — 
BouMers. 

In jealousy there is more of self-love than of love to another. — Roche- 
foucauld. 

It is good to make a jest, but not to make a trade of jesting. — Fuller. 

The jest 270 - 281 loses its point, when he who makes it is the first to 
laugh. — Schiller. 

The Jew is the pilgrim of commerce, trading with every nation and 
blending with none. — Conybeare. 

"Give me," said Frederick William of Prussia, to his chaplain, "Give 
me the briefest possible proof of the truth of Christianity." "The Jews, 
your majesty," was the answer. 

Joys are our wings ; sorrows our spurs. 191 — Richter. 
Joy never feasts so high as when the first course is of misery. — 
Suckling. 

Judgment 374 is forced upon us by experience. — Johnson. 
Judge thyself with the judgment 445 of sincerity, and thou wilt judge 
others with the judgment of charity. — /. Mason. 

Justice is the constant desire and effort to render to every man his 
due. — Justinian. 

Justice is itself the great standing policy of civil society ; and any 
departure from it, under any circumstances, lies under the suspicion of 
being no policy at all. — Burke. 

K 

Kindness in ourselves 161 is the honey that blunts the sting of unkind- 
ness in another. — Landor. 

The drying up of a single tear, has more of honest fame, than shed- 
ding seas 209 of gore. — Byron. 

Kisses are 153 like grains of gold or silver found upon the ground, of 
no value themselves, but precious as showing that a mine is near. — 
George Villiers. 

Blush, happy maiden, when you feel the lips that press love's glowing 
seal. But as the slow years darker roll, grown wiser, the experienced 
soul will own as dearer far than they, the lips which kiss the tears 
away. 305 , 309 . — Elizabeth Akers. 

A knave thinks himself a fool all the time he is not making a fool 
of some other person. — Hazlitt. 

Knaves will thrive where honest plainness knows not how to live. — 
Shirley. 

Knowledge will not be acquired without pains and application. It is 
troublesome and deep digging for pure waters; but when once you come 
to the spring, they rise up and meet you. — Felton. 

Knowledge once gained casts a light beyond its own immediate boun- 
daries. — Tyndall. 



568 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

L 

The guard of virtue is labor, and ease her sleep. — Tasso. 

Labor is life; from the inmost heart of the worker rises his God- 
given force, the sacred celestial life-essence breathed into him by Almighty 
God. — Carlyle. 

A laugh is worth a hundred groans in any market. — Lamb. 

Next to good, soul-stirring prayer is a good laugh, when it is pro- 
moted by what is pure in itself and in its grotesque application. — Mutch- 
more. 

To seek the redress of grievances by going to law, is like a flock oi 
sheep running for shelter to a bramble bush. — Dilwyn. 

Law is the embodiment of the moral sentiment of the people. — Black- 
stone. 

Learning makes a man fit company for himself. — Young. 

That learning is most requisite which unlearns evil. — Antisthenes. 

Leisure for men of business, and business for men of leisure, would 
cure many complaints. — Mrs. Thrall. 

I am never less at leisure than when at leisure, nor less alone than 
when I am alone. — Scipio Africanus. 

Lenity is a part of mercy, but she must not speak too loud for fear 
of waking justice. — Joubert. 

Lenity will operate with greater force in some instances than rigor. 
It is, therefore, my first wish to have all my conduct distinguished by 
it. — Washington. 

Letters are those winged messengers that can fly from east to west 
on wings of love. — Howell. 

To write a good love letter, you ought to begin without knowing 
what you mean to say, and to finish without knowing what you have 
written. — Rousseau. 

Liars — past all shame, so past all truth. 190 — Shakespeare. 
Thou canst not better reward a liar than in not believing whatever 
he speaketh. — Aristippus. 

Liberality was formerly called honesty, as if to imply that if we are 

not liberal we are not honest, either toward God or man. — Tryon Edwards. 

Liberality consists rather in giving seasonably than much. — Bruyere. 

Liberty is the right to do what the laws allow ; and if a citizen could 
do what they forbid, it would be no longer liberty, because others would 
have the same powers. — Montesquieu. 

If liberty with law is fire on the hearth, liberty without law is fire on 
the floor.iei— Hillard. 

A great library contains the diary of the human race. The great con- 
sulting room of a wise man is the library. — G. Dawson. 

Libraries are 161 the wardrobes of literature, whence men, properly 
informed, may bring forth something for ornament, much for curiosity, 
and more for use. — Dyer. 






BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FILE. 5^9 

Life has no significance to me save as the theater in which our powers 
are developed and disciplined for use, and made fruitful in securing our 
own independence, and the good of those around us, or as the scene in 
which we are fitted for the work and worship of the world beyond. — 
/. G. Holland. 

Life is fruitful in the ratio in which it is laid out in noble action or 
patient perseverance. — Liddon. 

Light is the shadow of God.™— Plato. 

Light! Nature's resplendent robe; without whose vesting beauty all 
were wrapped in gloom. — Thomson. 

Literature has her quacks no less than medicine, and they are divided 
into two classes ; those who have erudition without genius, and those who 
have volubility without depth ; we get second hand sense from the one, 
and original nonsense from the other. — Colton. 

Literature is the immortality of speech. — Schlegel. 

Little things are great to little men. — Goldsmith. 

Little things console us because little things afflict us. — Pascal. 

Looks kill love, and love by looks reviveth ; a smile recures the 
wounding of a frown. — Shakespeare. 

Their eyes but met, and then were turned aside. It was enough. 
That mystic eloquence, unheard, yet visible, is deeply felt, and tells what 
else were incommunicable. — Derozier. 

Logic is the science of the laws of thought as thought, that is, of the 
necessary conditions to which thought, in itself considered, is subject. 433 — 
Sir W. Hamilton. 

Syllogism 172 is of necessary use, even to the lovers of truth, to show 
them the fallacies 508 that are often concealed in florid, witty, or involved 
discourses. — Locke. 

Love in marriage should be the accomplishment of a beautiful dream, 
and not, as it too often is, the end. — Karr. 

A good man will do more for love than he will for money. — H. D. 
Gould. 

"Luck" is a very good word if you put a P before it. — Anon. 
Pitch a lucky man into the Nile, says an Arabian proverb, and he 
will come uo with a fish in his mouth. — N. P. Willis. 

Luxury is the first, second and third cause of the ruin of republics. 
It is the vampire which soothes us into a fatal slumber while it sucks 
the life-blood of our veins. — Payson. 

Luxury and avarice, those pests which have ever been the ruin of 
every great state. — Livy. 

Lying is like trying to hide in a fog. If you move about, you are in 
danger of bumping your head against the truth. And as soon as the fog 
blows away you are gone anyhow. — Anon. 

Lying is a most disgraceful vice; it first despises God, and then fears 
men.— Plutarch. 



570 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

M 

Magnanimity is of all virtues the rarest ; there are a hundred persons 
of merit for one who willingly acknowledges it in another. — Hazlitt. 

A brave man knows no malice; but forgets in peace, the injuries of 
war, and gives his direst foe a friend's embrace. — Cowper. 

A maiden in love grows unconsciously more bold. — Richter. 
A maiden never bold; of spirit so still and quiet, that her motion 
blushed at herself. — Shakespeare. 

Malice 409 drinks one-half of its own poison. — Seneca. 
Malice sucks up the greater part of her own venom, and poisons her- 
self. — Montaigne. 

Man is greater than a world — than systems of worlds; there is more 
mystery in the union of the soul with the body, than in the creation of a 
universe. — Henry Giles. 

Man is the highest product of his own history. The discoverer finds 
nothing so grand or tall as himself, nothing so valuable to him. The 
greatest star is at the small end of the telescope, the star that is looking, 
not looked after nor looked at. — Theodore Parker. 

Manners are minor morals. — Paley. 

Manner is everything with some people, and something with every- 
body. — Bishop Middleton. 

Marriage is the best state of man in general ; and every man is a 
worse man in proportion as he is unfit for the marriage state. — Johnson. 

Marriage is a medicine which acts differently on good men and good 
women. She does not love him quite enough — cure, marriage. He loves 
her a little too much — cure, marriage. — Charles Reade. 

Maxims are the condensed good sense of nations. — Sir J. Mackintosh. 
All maxims 190 have their antagonist maxims ; proverbs should be sold 
in pairs, a single one being but half a truth. — W. Matthews. 

The end must justify the means. — Prior. 

The means heaven yields must be embraced, and not neglected ; else, 
if heaven would, and we will not , heaven's offer we refuse. — Shakespeare. 

Medicine has been defined to be the art or science of amusing a sick 
man with frivolous speculations about his disorder, and of tampering in- 
geniously, till nature either kills or cures him. — Anon. 

Over the door of a library in Thebes is the inscription, "Medicine for 
the soul." — Diodorus Siculus. 

A man of meditation is happy, not for an hour, not for a day, but 
quite round the circle of all his years. — Isaac Taylor. 

Meditation is the nurse of thought, and thought the food for medita- 
tion. — C. Simmons. 

Meekness is imperfect if it be not both active and passive, leading us 
to subdue our own passions and resentments, as well as to bear patiently 
the passions and resentments of others. — foster. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FH.E. 57 1 

Meekness cannot well be counterfeited. It is not insensibility, nor 
unmanliness, or servility ; it does not cringe or whine. It is benevolence 
imitating Christ in patience, forbearance and quietness. It feels keenly, 
but not malignantly ; it abounds in good will, and bears all things. — W . S. 
Plumer. 

Melancholy spreads itself betwixt heaven and earth, like envy between 
man and man, and is an everlasting mist. — Byron. 

Melancholy, or low spirits, is that hysterical passion which forces 
unbidden sighs and tears. It falls upon a contented life, like a drop of 
ink on white paper, which is not the less a stain, that it carries no mean- 
ing with it. — Lockhart. 

The memory 384 is a treasurer to whom we must give funds, if we 
would draw the assistance we need. 152 — Rowe. 

Memory 383 is the cabinet of the imagination, 385 the treasury of 
reason, 390 the registry of conscience, 407 and the council chamber of 
thought. 374 - 161 — £<m7. 

Men are the sport of circumstances, when the circumstances seem the 
sport of men. — Byron. 

We do not commonly find men of superior sense among those of the 
highest fortune. — Juvenal. 

Mercifulness makes us equal to the gods. — Claudian. 

Mercy among the virtues is like the moon among the stars — not so 
sparkling and vivid as many, but dispensing a calm radiance that hallows 
the whole. 153 It is the bow that rests upon the bosom of the cloud when 
the storm is past. 161 . It is the light that hovers above the judgment-seat. 
— B. H. Chapin. 

Merit is never so conspicuous as when coupled with obscure origin, 
just 153 as the moon never appears so lustrous as when it emerges from a 
cloud. — Bovee. 

True merit, like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes. — 
Halifax. 

Metaphysics is the anatomy of the soul. — Dc Boufflers. 
Metaphysicians are whetstones on which to sharpen dull intellects. 161 
— H. W. Beecher. 

Methods are the masters of masters. — Talleyrand. 
Method will teach you to win time. — Goethe. 

Midnight — that hour of night's black arch the keystone. — Burns. 
Midnight — strange mystic hour — when the veil between the frail 
present and the eternal future grows thin. — Mrs. Stozve. 

The mind ought sometimes to be diverted that it may return to better 
thinking. — Phaedrus. 

The finite mind does not require to grasp the infinitude of truth, but 
only to go forward from light to light. — P. Bayne. 



572 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

The life of a pious minister is visible rhetoric. 177 — Hooker. 

The minister is to be a real man, a live man, a true man, a simple man, 
great in his love, in his life, in his work, in his simplicity, in his gentle- 
ness. — John Hall. 

A miracle I take to be a sensible operation, which being above the 
comprehension of the spectator, and in his opinion contrary to the estab- 
lished course of nature, is taken by him to be divine. — L,ocke. 

A miracle is a work exceeding the power of any created agent, con- 
sequently being an effect of the divine omnipotence. — South. 

Mirth should be 161 the embroidery of conversation, not the web; and 
wit the ornament of the mind, not the furniture. — Anon. 

Fun gives you a forcible hug and shakes laughter out of you, whether 
you will or no. — Garrick. 

The misanthrope is a man who avoids society, only to free himself 
from the trouble of being useful to it. — Saurin. 

The opinions of the misanthropical rest upon this very partial basis, 
that they adopt the bad faith of a few as evidence of the worthlessness 
of all — Bovee. 

He that may hinder mischief, yet permits it, is an accessory. — Freeman. 
O mischief, thou are swift to enter into the thoughts of desperate 
men. — Shakespeare. 

The prodigal robs his heir; the miser robs himself. 191 — Bruyere. 
The miser is as much in want of that which he has, as of that which 
he has not. — Publius Syrus. 

Man is only miserable so far as he thinks himself so. — Sannazaro. 
A misery is not to be measured from the nature of the evil, but from 
the temper of the sufferer. — Addison. 

Misfortune is never mournful to the soul that accepts it; for such 
do always see that in every cloud is an angel's face. — Jerome. 

The greatest misfortune of all is, not to be able to bear misfortune. — 
Bias. 

Mistakes are the lessons of wisdom. The past cannot be changed ; the 
future is yet in your power. — Hugh White. 

Any man may make a mistake, but none but a fool will continue in 
it. — Cicero. 

A mob is the scum that rises upmost when a nation boils. 161 — Dryden. 
The mob is a monster, with the hands of Briareus, but the head of 
Polyphemus, strong to execute, but blind to perceive. — Cotton. 

Moderation is the silken string running through the pearl-chain of all 
virtues. 161 — Bishop Hall. 

Moderation is the inseparable companion of wisdom, but with it 
genius has not even a nodding acquaintance. — Colton. 

A false modesty as the meanest species of pride. — Gibbon. 
Modesty is the chastity of merit, the virginity of noble souls. — 
E. du Girardin. 



BKST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE) FILE. 573 

Money is a good servant, but a poor master. 191 — D. Bouhours. 

Money is a bottomless sea, in which honor, conscience and truth 
may be drowned. — Kozlay. 

If I have done any deed worthy of remembrance, that deed will be my 
monument. If not, no monument can preserve my memory. — Agesilaus. 

Monuments are the grappling-irons that bind one generation to 
another. 190 — Joubert. 

All sects are different, because they come from men ; morality is 
everywhere the same, because it comes from God. 47 — Voltaire. 

Morality is religion in practice ; religion is morality in principle. 47 — 
Wardlaw. 

Morn in the white wake of the morning star, came furrowing all the 
Orient into gold. — Tennyson. 

Morn, like 153 a maiden glancing o'er her pearls, stream'd o'er the 
manna-dew, as though 153 the ground were sown with star-seed. — P. J. 
Bailey. 

Let the motive be in the deed and not in the event. Be not one whose 
motive for action is the hope of reward/ — Krishna. 

Motives are better than actions. Men drift into crime. Of evil, they 
do more than they contemplate, and of good they contemplate more than 
they do. — Bovee. 

Murder itself is past all expiation the greatest crime which nature 
doth abhor. — Goff. 

One murder makes a villain; millions, a hero; 191 numbers sanctify 
the crime. — Porteus. 

Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life. 
Although the spirit be not master of that which it creates through music, 
yet it is blessed in this creation, which, like every creation of art, is 
mightier than the artist. 426 — Beethoven. 

Music is the harmonious voice of creation ; an echo of the invisible 
world ; one note of the divine concord which the entire universe is destined 
one day to sound. — Mazzini. 

Mutability is the badge of infirmity. It is seldom that a man con- 
tinues to wish and design the same thing for two days alike. — Charron. 

All our life goeth like Penelope's web, and what one hour effects, the 
next destroys. — Augustine. 

Mystery is but another name for our ignorance ; if we were omnis- 
cient, all would be perfectly plain. — Tryon Edwards. 

A mystery is something of which we know that it is, though we do 
not know how it is. — Joseph Cook. 

Mythology is not religion. It may rather be regarded as the ancient 
substitute, the poetical counterpart for dogmatic theology. — Hare. 

The heathen mythology not only was not true, but it was not even 
supported as true; it not only deserved no faith, but it demanded none. 
The very pretension to truth, the very demand of faith, were character- 
istics of Christianity. — Whately. 



574 B E ST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

N 

A name is a kind of face whereby one is known. — Fuller. 
A virtuous name is the precious, only good, for which queens and 
peasants' wives must contest together. — Schiller. 

Nature is but a name for an effect whose cause is God. 461 - 465 . — Cowper. 
Nature has perfections, in order to show that she is the image of God ; 
and defects, to show that she is only his image. — Pascal. 

Necessity is the mother of invention. — Farquhar. 

Necessity may render a doubtful act innocent, but it cannot make it 
praiseworthy. — Joubert. 

Self-love is not so vile a sin as self-neglecting. — Shakespeare. 
Negligence is the rust of the soul, that corrodes through all her best 
resolves. — Feltham. 

Neutrality, as a lasting principle, is an evidence of weakness. — Kossuth. 
The cold neutrality of an impartial judge. — Burke. 

News, the manna of a day. — Greene. 

Evil news rides post, while good news bates. — Milton. 

Newspapers are the schoolmasters of the common people — a greater 
treasure to them than uncounted millions of gold. — Beecher. 

Newspapers are the world's cyclopedia of life; telling us everything 
from every quarter of the globe. They are a universal whispering gallery 
for all mankind, only their whispers are sometimes thunders. 161 — 
Edwards. 

Nicknames stick to people, and the most ridiculous are the most adhe- 
sive. — Haliburton. 

A nickname is the heaviest stone the devil can throw at a man. — 
Anon. 

The night is made for tenderness so still that the low whisper, scarcely 
audible, is heard like music, and so deeply pure that the fond thought is 
chastened as it springs and on the lip is made holy. — N. P. Willis. 

Night's silent reign had robbed the world of light, to lend, in lieu, a 
greater benefit, repose and sleep, when every mortal whom care or grief 
permitted, took their rest. — Thomas May. 

Nobility should be elective, not hereditary. — Zimmerman. 
Nobility, without virtue, is like a setting without a gem. 153 — Jane 
Porter. 

Nonsense, at times, is singularly refreshing. — Talleyrand. 
Nonsense and noise will oft prevail, when honor and affection fail. — 
Lloyd. 

Novels may teach us as wholesome morals as the pulpit. There are 
"sermons in stones," in healthy books, and "good in everything." — Colton. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FILE. 575 

Novels are mean imitations of literature, and usually the poorest part 
of it. They devour much precious time, and what is worse, have a bad 
effect upon mind and morals. Their fanciful, distorted and exaggerated 
sketches of life tend to vitiate and corrupt 'the taste, and to excite expec- 
tations that can never be fulfilled. 143 — Varle. 

O 

Oaths, whether kept or broken, frequently lead to guilt. — Johnson. 
It is a great sin to swear unto a sin, but greater sin to keep a sinful 
oath. — Shakespeare. 

Obedience is not truly performed by the body, if the heart is dis- 
satisfied. — Saadi. 

Obedience is the mother of success, and is wedded to safety. — 
Aeschylus. 

Obligation is thraldom, and thraldom is hateful. — Hobbes. 
We are under solemn obligations to the children of those who have 
loved us. — Poincelot. 

Oblivion is the flower that grows best on graves. — George Sand. 
The oblivions of time will be the reminiscences of eternity. 191 — C. 
Simmons. 

Obscurity and innocence, twin sisters, escape temptations which would 
pierce their gossamer armor in contact with the world. — Chamfort. 

The obscurity of a writer is generally in proportion" to his incapa- 
city. — Quintillian. 

Obstinacy is will asserting itself without being able to justify itself. 
It is persistence without a reasonable motive. It is the tenacity of self- 
love substituted for that of reason and conscience. — Amiel. 

Obstinacy and vehemency in opinion are the surest proofs of stupid- 
ity. — Barton. 

Occupation is the necessary basis of all enjoyment. — Leigh Hunt. 
Occupation is the scythe of time. 161 — Napoleon. 

Who fears to offend, takes the first step to please. — Cibber. 
Offences ought to be pardoned, for few offend willingly, but only as 
led by some excitement. — Hegesippus. 

If ever this free people, if this government itself is ever utterly de- 
moralized, it will come from this incessant human wriggling and struggle 
for office, which is but a way to live without work. — Abraham Lincoln. 

Office is like a pyramid ; only two kinds of animals reach the sum- 
mit, reptiles and eagles. — D'Alembert. 

Old age has been charged with being insensible to pleasure and 
enjoyments arising from the gratification of the senses — a most blessed 
and heavenly effect, truly, if it eases us of what in youth was the sorest 
plague of life. — Cicero. 



576 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Woe to the man who becomes old without becoming wise; woe to 
him if this world shuts its door without the future having opened its 
doors to him. — Tholuck. 

Opinions are stronger than armies. If they are founded in truth and 
justice, they will, in the end, prevail against the bayonets of infantry, the 
fire of artillery, and the charges of cavalry. — Lord Palmerston. 

What I admire in Columbus is not his having discovered a world, 
but his having gone to search for it on the faith of an opinion. — Turgot. 

The sure way to miss success is to miss the opportunity. — Chasles. 
Opportunity is rare, and a wise man will never let it go by him. — 
Bayard Taylor. 

Opposition inflames the enthusiast, never converts him. — Schiller. 
It is not the victory that makes the joy of noble hearts, but the 
combat. — Montalembert. 

Oppression makes wise men mad; but the distemper is still the mad« 
ness of the wise, which is better than the sobriety of fools. — Burke. 

When oppression stains the robe of state, and power's a whip of 
scorpions in the hands of heartless knaves, to lash th' o'erburthen'd back 
of honest industry, the loyal blood will turn to bitterest gall, and the 
o'ercharged heart explode in execration. 11 ? — Shee. 

Suit the action to the word, the word to the action ; with this special 
observance, that you overstep not the modesty of nature. — Shakespeare. 

An orator or an author is never successful till he has learned to make 
his words smaller than his ideas. — Emerson. 

Order is the sanity of the mind, the health of the body, the peace of 
the city, the security of the state. 153 As the beams to a house, as the 
bones to the body, so is order to all things. — Southey. 

Order means light and peace, inward liberty and free command over 
one's self. — Amiel. 

Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original 
writers borrowed from one another. The instruction we find in books is 
like fire. We fetch it from our neighbors, kindle it at home, communi- 
cate it to others, and it' becomes the property of all. 153 — Voltaire. 

It is better to create than to be learned ; creating is the true essence 
of life. — Niebuhr. 

Ornaments were invented by modesty. — Joubert. 
The true ornament of matrons is virtue. — Justin. 

P 

Pain is the outcome of sin. — Buddha. 

Pain is not without its alleviations. It is seldom both violent and 
long-continued; and its pauses and intermissions become positive pleas- 
ures. It has the power of shedding a satisfaction over intervals of ease, 
which few enjoyments exceed. — Paley. 






BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FILE- 577 

A panic is the stampede of our self-possession. — Rivarol. 
A panic is a sudden desertion of us, and a going over to the enemy 
of our imagination. — Bovee. 

Pardon others often; thyself never. — Publius Syrus. 
Pardon is the virtue of victory. — Mazzini. 

Parents wonder why the streams are bitter, when they themselves 
have poisoned the fountain. — Locke. 

Next to God, thy parents. 190 — Penn. 

Parting and forgetting? What faithful heart can do these? 193 . Our 
great thoughts, our great affections, the truths of our life never leave 
us. Surely, they cannot be separate from our consciousness ; will follow 
it whithersoever that shall go, and are, of their nature, divine and 
immortal. — Thackeray. 

I have no parting sigh to give, so take my parting smile. — L. B. 
Landon. 

Party is the madness of many for the gain of a few. — Pope. 
Party standards are shadows in which patriotism is buried. — St. 
Pierre. 

The passions and capacities of our nature are foundations of power, 
happiness, and glory; but if we turn them into occasions of self-indul- 
gence the structure itself falls, and buries everything in its overwhelming 
desolation. — G. B. Cheever. 

The passions act as winds to propel our vessel, our reason is the pilot 
that steers her ; without the winds, she would not move ; without the pilot, 
she would be lost. — F. Schulz. 

The past is for us, but the sole terms on which it can become ours 
are its subordination to the present. — Emerson. 

It is to live twice when we can enjoy the recollections of our former 
life. — Martial. 

Patience! why it is the soul of peace; of all the virtues, it is nearest 
kin to heaven; it makes men look like gods. The best of men that ever 
wore earth about him was a sufferer — a soft, meek, patient, humble, tran- 
quil spirit ; the first true gentleman that ever breathed. — Decker. 

Everything comes if man will only wait. — Tancred. 

Pedantry crams our heads with learned lumber, and takes out our 
brains to make room for it. — Colton. 

Brimful of learning see the pedant stride, bristling with horrid Greek 
and puffed with pride ! A thousand authors he in vain has read, and with 
their maxims stuffed his empty head; and thinks that without Aristotle's 
rule, reason is blind' and common sense a fool. — Boileau. 

Perfection does not exist; to understand it is the triumph of human 
intelligence; to expect to possess it is the most dangerous kind of mad- 
ness. — Alfred De Musset. 

Perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things, but in doing 
ordinary things extraordinarily well. Neglect nothing; the most trivial 
action may be performed to God. — Angelique Arnold. 



57$ BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Persecution often does in this life what the last great day will do 
completely, separate the wheat from the tares. — Milner. 

Persecution is not wrong because it is cruel, but cruel because it 
is wrong. 184 — Whately. 

Whoever perseveres will be crowned. — herder. 

Perseverance is a Roman virtue, that wins each god-like act, and 
plucks success even from the spear-proof crest of rugged danger. 120 — 
Havard. 

Philanthropy, like charity, must begin at home; from this center our 
sympathies should extend in an ever widening circle. — Lamb. 

This is true philanthropy, that buries not its gold in ostentatious 
charity, but builds its human hospital in the human heart. — Harley. 

Physic is of little use to a temperate person, for a man's own observa- 
tion on what he finds does him good, and what hurts him, is the best 
physic to preserve health. — Bacon. 

Whoever has lived twenty years ought to know what is hurtful and 
what wholesome to him, and know how to order himself without physic. — 
Tiberius. 

Pity is akin to love; and every thought of that soft kind* is welcome 
to my soul. 409 — Southern. 

Nothing but infinite pity is sufficient for the infinite pathos of human 
life. — John Inglesant. 

The place is dignified by the doer's deed. — Shakespeare. 

Whatever the place allotted to us by Providence, that for us is the 
post of honor and duty. God estimates us not by the position we are in, 
but by the way in which we fill it. — Tryon Edwards. 

Plagiarists are always suspicious of being stolen from. — Coleridge. 

Steal ! to be sure they may, and, egad, serve your best thoughts as 153 
gypsies do stolen children, — disfigure them to make them pass as their 
own. — Sheridan. 

Pleasure must first have the warrant that it is without sin; and then 
the measure, that it is without excess. — H. G. J. Adam. 

The sweetest pleasures are those which do not exhaust hope. 417 — ; 
De Lavis. 

Were the king at noonday to say, "This day is night," it would be- 
hoove us to reply, "Lo ! there are the moon and seven stars !" — Saadi. 

Policy consists in serving God in such a manner as not to offend the 
devil. — Fuller. 

Politeness is not always the sign of wisdom, but the want of it always 
leaves room for the suspicion of folly. — Landor. 

A polite man is one who listens with interest to things he knows 
all about, when they are told him by a person who knows nothing about 
them. — De Morny. 






BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE) FILE. 579 

In politics, merit is rewarded by the possessor being raised, like a 
target, to a position to be fired at. — Bovee. 

Every political question is becoming a social question, and every 
social question is becoming a religious question. — R. T. Ely. 

Positive views of truth and duty are those that impress the mind and 
lead to action ; negation dwells mostly in cavil and denial. 525 — Whately. 

Positiveness is a most absurd foible. If you are in the right, it 
lessens your triumph ; if in the wrong, it adds shame to your defeat. — 
Sterne. 

Poverty palls the most generous spirits. It cows industry, and casts 
resolution itself into despair. — Addison. 

Poverty is the only load which is the heavier the more loved ones 
there are to assist in bearing it. 119 — Richter. 

A preacher should have the skill to teach the unlearned simply, 
roundly, and plainly; for teaching is of more importance than exhort- 
ing. — Luther. 

I don't like those mighty fine preachers who round off their sen- 
tences so beautifully that they are sure to roll off the sinner's back. — 
Rowland Hill. 

One precedent creates another. They soon accumulate, and consti- 
tute law. What yesterday was fact, to-day is doctrine. Examples are 
supposed to justify the most dangerous measures; and where they do not 
suit exactly, the defect is supplied by analogy. — Junius. 

The lawless science of the law, that codeless myriad of precedent, 
that wilderness of single instances. 137 — Tennyson. 

Precepts are the rules by which we ought to square our lives. When 
they are contracted into sentences, they strike the affections; whereas 
admonition is only blowing off the coal. — Seneca. 

Too many follow example rather than precept; but it is safer to 
learn rather from precept than example. Many a wise teacher does not 
follow his own teaching; for it is easier to say, do this, than to do it. If, 
then, I see good doctrine with an evil life, though I pity the last, I will 
follow the first. Good sayings belong to all ; evil actions, only to their 
authors. — Warwick. 

A preface, being the entrance to a book, should invite by its beauty. 
An elegant porch announces the splendor of the interior. — Disraeli. 

Go, little book; God send thee good passage, and specially let this 
be thy prayer, unto them all that thee will read or hear, where thou art 
wrong, after their help to call, thee to correct in any part, or all. — 
Chaucer. 

All looks yellow to the jaundiced eye. 190 — Pope. 

Prejudice, which sees what it pleases, cannot see what is plain. — 
Aubrey De Vere. 

Each present joy or sorrow seems the chief. — Shakespeare. 
The future is purchased by the present.— Johnson. 



580 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

The press is the foe of rhetoric, but the friend of reason. 1 ^ 1 . — Colton. 
The reformation was cradled in the printing press, and established by- 
no other instrument. — Agnes Strickland. 

Pretences go a great way with men that take fair words and magis- 
terial looks for current payment. — L'Bstrange. 

Hearts may be attracted by assumed qualities, but the affections are 
not to be fixed but by those that are real. — De Moy. 

Prevention is the best bridle. — Pelham. 

'Preventives of evil are far better than remedies; cheaper and easier 
of application, and surer of result. — Tryon Edwards. 

Pride often defeats its own end, by bringing the man who seeks 
esteem and reverence into contempt. — Bolingbroke. 

When pride and presumption walk before, shame and loss follow very 
closely. — Louis the Eleventh. 

Principle is a passion for truth and right. — Hazlitt. 
He who merely knows right principles is not equal to him who loves 
them. — Confucius. 

Procrastination is the thief of time; year after year it steals, till all 
are fled, and to the mercies of a moment leaves the vast concerns of an 
eternal state. At thirty, man suspects himself a fool; knows it at forty, 
and reforms his plan; at fifty, chides his infamous delay, pushes his 
prudent purpose to resolve; in all the magnanimity of thought, resolves, 
and re-resolves, then dies the same. — Young. 

By the streets of "by and by," one arrives at the house of "never." — 
Cervantes. 

Prodigality and dissipation at last bring a man to the want of the 
necessaries of life. — Volney. 

The injury of prodigality leads to this, that he that will not econo- 
mize, will have to agonize. — Confucius. 

It chills my blood to hear the blest Supreme rudely appealed to on 
each trifling theme. Maintain your rank, vulgarity despise. To swear 
is neither brave, polite, nor wise. — Cowper. 

Profanity is a brutal vice. He who indulges in it is no gentleman. — 
E. H. Chapin. 

Progress is the activity of to-day, and the assurance of tomorrow. — 
Emerson. 

Progress is the law of life; man is not man as yet. — Robert Brown- 
ing. 

An acre of performance is worth a whole world of promise. — Howell. 
We promise according to our hopes, but perform according to our 
selfishness and our fears. — Rochefoucauld. 

Promptness is the soul of business. — Chesterfield. 
Deliberate with caution, but act with decision and promptness. — 
Colton. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FILE. 58 1 

Prosperity is the touch-stone of virtue ; for it is less difficult to bear 
misfortunes, than to remain uncorrupted by pleasure. — Tacitus. 

Prosperity too often has the same effect upon its possessor that a 
calm at sea has upon the Dutch mariner, who frequently, it is said, in 
these circumstances, ties up the rudder, gets drunk, and goes to sleep. — 
Bishop Nome. 

Proverbs are the cream of a nation's thought. — Anon. 

Short sentences drawn from long experience. 191 — Cervantes. 

Providence is a greater mystery than revelation. The state of the 
world is more humiliating to our reason than the doctrines of the gospel. 
— Cecil. 

By going a few minutes sooner or later, by stopping to speak with 
a friend, on the corner, by meeting this man or that, or by turning this 
street instead of the other, we may let slip some impending evil, by which 
the whole current of our lives would have been changed. There is no 
possible solution in the dark enigma, but the one word, "Providence." — 
Longfellow. 

Franklin left behind him more maxims than any of his countrymen, 
and prudence is the pivot on which they turn. — A. Rhodes. 

The prudence of the best heads is often defeated by the tenderness 
of the best hearts. — Fielding. 

The public is wiser than the wisest critic. — Bancroft. 
Public opinion, or public sentiment, is able to sustain, or to pull down 
any law of the commonwealth. — C. Simmons. 

Q 

Quackery has no such friend as credulity. — C. Simmons. 

We affect to laugh at the folly of those who put faith in nostrums, 
but are willing to try ourselves whether there is any truth in them. — 
Hazlitt. 

Quarrels would never last long, if the fault was only on one side. — 
Rochefoucauld. 

The hatred of those who are the most nearly connected, is the most 
inveterate. — Tacitus. 

Why are not more gems from our great authors scattered over our 
country? Great books are not in everybody's reach; and though it is 
better to know them thoroughly than to know them only here and there, 
yet it is a good work to give a little to those who have neither time nor 
means to get more. Let every book-worm, when in any fragrant, scarce 
old tome, he discovers a sentence, a story, an illustration, that does his 
heart good, hasten to give it. — Coleridge. 

Quotation, sir, is a good thing; there is a community of mind in it; 
classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world. — 
Johnson. 



5&2 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

R 

In rage, deaf as the sea; hasty as fire. — Shakespeare. 

Rage 409 is essentially vulgar, and never more vulgar than when it 
proceeds from mortified pride, disappointed ambition, or thwarted wil- 
fulness. — H. Coleridge. 

We cannot learn raillery ;„that must be a gift of nature; and I esteem 
him happy who does not wish to acquire it. The character of sarcasm 
is dangerous; although this quality makes those laugh whom it does not 
wound, it, nevertheless, never procures esteem. — Oxenstiern. 

Raillery and wit are never made to answer our inquiries after truth, 
and to determine a question of rational controversy, though they may be 
sometimes serviceable to expose to contempt those inconsistent follies 
which have been first abundantly refuted by argument: they serve indeed 
only to cover nonsense with shame, when reason has proved it to be mere 
nonsense. — Watts. 

The rain is playing its soft, pleasant tune fitfully on the skylight, 
and the shade of the fast-flying clouds passes with delicate change across 
my book. — N. P. Willis. 

How singular, and yet how simple, the philosophy of rain ! 196 Who 
but the Omniscient could have devised such an admirable arrangement 
for watering the earth? — Ure. 

The rainbow, that arc of light, born of the shower and colored by 
the sun, which spans the heavens. — /. C. Prince. 

Look upon the rainbow, and praise him that made it. 260 . Very beauti- 
ful it is in the brightness thereof: it compasseth the heavens about with 
a glorious circle, and the hands of the Most High have bended it. 26 ^, 244. — 
Bcclesiasticus. 

Rank and riches are chains of gold, but still chains. — RufHni. 
I weigh the man, not his title; 'tis not the king's stamp can make 
the metal better. — Wycherly. 

Rashness and haste make all things insecure. — Denham. 
Rashness is the characteristic of ardent youth, and prudence that of 
mellowed age. — Cicero. 

Read, and refine your appetite; learn to live upon instruction; feast 
your mind, and mortify your flesh ; read, and take your nourishment in 
at your eyes; shut up your mouth, and chew the cud of understanding. — 
Congreve. 

Always have a book at hand, in the parlor, on the table, for the fam- 
ily ; a book of condensed thought and striking anecdote, of sound maxims 
and truthful apothegms. It will impress on your own mind a thousand 
valuable suggestions, and teach your children a thousand lessons of truth 
and duty. Such a book is 161 a casket of jewels for your household. — 
Tryon Edwards. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FILE. 583 

Reasons 161 are the pillars of the fabric of discourse, but similitudes 
are the windows which give the best light. — Fuller. 

Reason cannot show itself more reasonable than to cease reasoning 
on things above reason. 391 , 439 — Sir P. Sidney. 

Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God. — Franklin. 
Men seldom, or rather never for a length of time, and deliberately, 
rebel against anything that does not deserve rebelling against. — Carlyle. 

Recompense injury with justice, and unkindness with kindness. — 
Confucius. 

Forever from the hand that takes one blessing fr,om us, others fall ; 
and soon or late our Father makes his perfect recompense to all. — 
Whittier. 

Recreation is not the highest kind of enjoyment, but in its time and 
place is quite as proper as prayer. — S. I. Prime. 

Recreation is intended to the mind as whetting to the scythe, to 
sharpen the edge of it, which otherwise would grow dull and blunt. He, 
therefore, that spends his whole time in recreation, is ever whetting, never 
mowing; his grass may grow and his steed starve. As, contrarily, he 
that always toils and never recreates, is ever mowing, never whetting; 
laboring much to little purpose. As good no scythe as no edge. 171 — 
Bishop Hall. 

Rectitude is the short cut to integrity. 190 — Hialmer D. Gould. 
A straight line is the shortest in morals as in mathematics. — Maria 
Bdgezvorth. 

Refinement creates beauty everywhere. It is the grossness of the 
spectator that discovers anything like grossness in the object. — Hazlitt. 

There is no reason why the brown hand of labor should not hold 
Thomson as well as the sickle. Ornamental reading shelters and even 
strengthens the growth of what is merely useful. A cornfield never 
returns a poorer crop because a few wild flowers bloom in the hedge. 
The refinement of the poor is the triumph of Christian civilization. — 
—Willmott. 

Reflection is a flower of the mind, giving out wholesome fragrance; 
but reverie is the same flower, when rank and running to seed. — Tupper. 

There is one art of which every man should be a master — the art of 
reflection. If you are not a thinking man, to what purpose are you a 
man at all ? — Coleridge. 

Reform, like charity must begin at home.— Carlyle. 
Public reformers had need first practice on their own hearts that 
which they propose to try on others. — Charles I. 

Religion is as necessary to reason as reason is to religion. The one 
cannot exist without the other. A reasoning being would lose his reason, 
in attempting to account for the great phenomena of nature, had he not a 
Supreme Being to refer to; and well has it been said, that if tliere had 
been no God, mankind would have been obliged to imagine one. — Wash- 
ington. 



584 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

If your whole life is guided by religion, the hearts of others may be 
touched by this mute language, and may open to the reception of that 
spirit which dwells in you. — Schleiermacher. 

Remorse 632 is beholding heaven and feeling hell 191 — Moore. 
Remorse is the echo of lost virtue. 161 , 19 ° — Bulwer. 

Repartee — the impromptu reply, is the touchstone of wit. — Moliere. 

Repartee is perfect when it effects its purpose with a double edge. 
Repartee is the highest order of wit, as it bespeaks the coolest yet quick- 
est exercise of genius at a moment when the passions are roused — Colton. 

Repentance without amendment is like continually pumping without 
mending the leak. — Dilwyn. 

Deathbed repentance is burning the candle of life in the service of 
the devil, and then blowing the snuff in the face of heaven. 161 — Lorenzo 
Dow. 

Repose without stagnation is the state most favorable to happiness. 
"The great felicity of life," says Seneca, "is to be without perturbations. — 
Bovee. 

There is no mortal truly wise and restless at once; wisdom is the 
repose of minds. — Lavater. 

Reprove thy friend privately; commend him publicly. 191 — Solon. 
Reproof is a medicine like mercury or opium; if it be improperly 
administered, it will do harm instead of good. — Horace Mann. 

Republics come to an end by luxurious habits ; monarchies by pov- 
erty. — Montesquieu. 

It is the weakness and danger of republics, that the vices as well as 
the virtues of the people are represented in their legislation. — Mrs. Mary 
H. Hunt. 

Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what 
God and angels know of us. — Paine. 

A reputation once broken, may possibly be repaired ; but the world 
will always keep its eyes on the spot 176 where the crack was. — Anon. 

Reserve is the truest expression of respect toward those who are its 
objects. — De Quincey. 

Reserve may be pride fortified in ice; dignity is worth reposing on 
truth. 161 — W. R. Alger. 

Resignation is the courage of Christian sorrow. — Vinet. 
Resignation is putting God between ourselves and our troubles. — 
Mad. Swet chine. 

Responsibility walks hand in hand with capacity and power. — Holland. 
Responsibility educates.— Wendell Phillips. 

Rest is the sweet sauce of labor. — Plutarch. 
Rest is valuable only so far as it is a contrast. — David Swing. 
God is a sure paymaster. He may not pay at the end of every week, 
or month, or year, but remember, he pays in the end. — Anne of Austria. 



BKST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE: FlL,£. 585 

Retribution is one of the grand principles of the divine administra- 
tion of human affairs ; a requital is imperceptible only to the unobser- 
vant. There is everywhere the working of the everlasting law of requital : 
Man always gets as he gives. — /. Foster. 

To revenge is no valor, but to bear. — Shakespeare. 
Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance, of justice. Injuries are 
revenged; crimes are avenged. — Joubert. 

Reverence is an ennobling sentiment. He that has no pleasure in 
looking up, is not fit so much as to look down. — Washington Allston. 

The majesty of God revere; fear him and you have nothing else to 
fear. — Fordyce. 

Reverie is when ideas float in our mind without reflection or regard 
of the understanding. — Locke. 

Reverie, which is thought in its nebulous state, borders closely upon 
the land of sleep, by which it is bounded as by a natural frontier. — Victor 
Hugo. 

Revolution is the larva of civilization. 190 — Victor Hugo. 
Nothing has ever remained of any revolution but what was ripe in 
the conscience of the masses. — Ledru Rollin. 

We see how much a man has, and therefore we envy him; did we 
see how little he enjoys, we should rather pity him. — Seed. 

Riches do not delight us so much with their possession, as torment 
us with their loss. — Gregory. 

Ridicule is a weak weapon when levelled at strong minds, but com- 
mon men are cowards and dread an empty laugh. — Tupper. 

Ridicule, which chiefly arises from pride, is a selfish passion, is but 
at best a gross pleasure, too rough an entertainment for those who are 
highly polished and refined. — Home. 

Right is might, and ever was, and ever shall be so. — Hare. 
I would rather be right than be president. — Henry Clay. 

Rogues are always found out in some way. — Fontaine. 
A rogue is a roundabout fool. — Coleridge. 

Romance has been elegantly defined as the offspring of fiction and 
love. — Disraeli. 

In the meanest hut is a romance, if you but knew the hearts there. — 
Van Bnse. 

Ruins — the legendary tablets of the past. — Walter Scott. 
Black-letter record of the ages. — Diderot. 

Rumor was the messenger of defamation, and so swift that none 
could be first to tell an evil tale. — Pollok. 

Curse the tongue whose slanderous rumor, like the adder's drop, dis- 
tils her venom, withering friendship's faith, turning love's favor. — Hill- 
house. 



586 BEST THOUGHTS O? BEST THINKERS. 

s 

Sarcasm is the language of the devil; for which reason I have long 
since as good as renounced it. — Carlyle. 

Sarcasm poisons reproof. — Wigglesworth. 

Satire! thou shining supplement of public laws! — Young. 

A satirist of true genius, who is warmed by a generous indignation 
of vice, and whose censures are conducted by candor and truth, merits 
the applause of every friend to virtue. — Crousaz. 

Believe that story false that ought not to be true. — Sheridan. 
Scandal is the sport of its authors, the dread of fools, and the con- 
tempt of the wise. — W. B. Clulow. 

Scepticism has never founded empires, established principles or 
changed the world's heart. The great' doers in history have always been 
men of faith. — B. H. Chapin. 

Sceptics are generally ready to believe anything, provided it is only 
sufficiently improbable; it is at matters of fact that such people stumble. — 
Von Knebel. 

What are the sciences but maps of universal laws; and universal 
laws but the channels of universal power; and universal power but the 
outgoings of a supreme universal mind? — B. Thomson. 

The person who thinks there can be any real conflict between science 
and religion must be either very young in science or very ignorant in 
religion. — Prof. Henry. 

The sea has been called deceitful and treacherous, but there lies in 
this trait only the character of a great natural power, which renews its 
strength, and, without reference to joy or sorrow, follows eternal laws 
which are imposed by a higher power. — W. Humboldt. 

Praise the sea, but keep on the land. — Herbert. 

Secrecy is the chastity of friendship. — Jeremy Taylor. 
Never confide your secrets to paper. It is like throwing a stone in 
the air, you do not know where it may fall. — Calderon. 

Self-conceit is a weighty quality- and will sometimes bring down the 
scale when there is nothing else in it. It magnifies a fault beyond propor- 
tion, and swells every omission into an outrage. 144 — Jeremy Collier. 

Oftentimes nothing profits more than self-esteem, 409 grounded on 
what is just and right. — Milton. 

Self-control is, indeed, the noblest rule on earth; the object of a 
loftier ambition than the possession of crowns or sceptres. — Caird. 

Self-control is promoted by humility. Pride is a fruitful source of 
uneasiness. It keeps the mind in disquiet. Humility is the antidote to 
this evil. — Mrs. Sigourney. 

Self-denial is an excellent guide of virtue. — Towson. 
One never knows himself till he has denied himself. The altar of 
sacrifice is the touchstone of character. — O. P. Gilford. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBI^ tfILk 587 

Selfishness is a vice utterly at variance with the happiness of him 
who harbors it, and as such, condemned by self-love. — Sir J. Mackintosh. 
That household god, a man's own self. — Flavel. 

In all time, self-love has blinded the wisest. — Villefre. 
Self-love, as it happens to be well or ill conducted, constitutes virtue 
and vice. — Rochefoucauld. 

A man's praises have very musical and charming accents in the mouth 
of another, but sound very flat and untamable in his own. — Xenophon. 

Self-praise occasionally succeeds with ignorant and credulous per- 
sons; very seldom with those who have much knowledge of the world. — 
G. W. Hervey. 

Self-reliance wins. They can conquer who believe they can. — Virgil. 
Time and I against any two. — Phillip II. 

Self-respect — that cornerstone of all virute. — Sir John Herschel. 

Every man stamps his own value on himself. The price we challenge 
for ourselves is given us. Man is made great or little by his own will. — 
Schiller. 

Self-righteousness is the devil's masterpiece to make us think well 
of ourselves. — T. Adam. 

Regret not that which is past, and trust not to thine own righteous- 
ness. — St. Anthony. 

Lawless are they that make their wills their law. — Shakespeare. 
Self-will is so ardent and active that it will break a world to pieces 
to make a stool to sit on. 209 — Cecil. 

Laughter and tears are meant to turn the wheels of the same ma- 
chinery of sensibility ; one is wind-power, and the other water-power ; 
that is all.— O. W. Holmes. 

Sensibility is neither good nor evil, in itself, but in its application. 
Ill-directed or uncontrolled, it is a snare, and the source of every tempta- 
ton— H. More. 

Sensitiveness is closely allied to egotism. — Bovee. 
Quick sensitiveness is inseparable from a ready understanding. — 
Addison. 

Sensuality is the grave of the soul.— Channing. 

He that lives in the kingdom of sense, shall die in the kingdom of 
sorrow. — Baxter. 

Sentiment is intellectual emotion ;400 emotion precipitated, as it 
were, in pretty crystals by the fancy.—/. R. Lowell. 

Sentiment has a sort of divine alchemy, rendering grief itself the 
source of tenderest thoughts and far-reaching desires, which the sufferer 
cherishes as sacred treasures.— Talfourd. 

Shame may restrain what the law does not prohibit. — Seneca. 
It is the guilt, not the scaffold, which constitutes the shame.-— Cor- 
neille. 



588 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Upright simplicity is the deepest wisdom, and perverse craft the 
merest shallowness. — Barrow. 

Simplicity of character is the natural result of profound thought. — 
Hazlitt. 

Sincerity and truth are the basis of all virtue. — Confucius. 

Sincerity is the face of the soul, as dissimulation is the mask. — 
S. Dubay. 

Slander meets no regard from noble minds; only the base believe 
what the base only utter. — Bellers. 

Plato, hearing that some asserted that he was a very bad man, said, 
"I shall take care so to live that nobody will believe them." — Guardian. 

"Sleep is so like death," says Sir Thomas Browne, "that I dare not 
trust myself to it without prayer." They both, when they seize the body, 
leave the soul at liberty; and wise is he that remembers of both, that 
they can be made safe and happy only by virtue. — Sir W. Temple. 

Sleep is pain's easiest salve, and doth fulfill all offices of death, 
except to kill. — Donne. 

Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears, while the key 
often used is always bright. — Franklin. 

Sloth is torpidity of the mental faculties; the sluggard is a living 
insensible. — Zimmerman. 

Smiles from reason flow, to brute denied, and are of love the food. — 
Milton. 

A smile is the color which love wears, and cheerfulness, and joy — 
these three. It is the light in the window of the face, by which the heart 
signifies to father, husband, and friend, that it is at home and waiting. — 
H. W. Bee cher. 

A sneer is often the sign of heartless malignity. — Lavater. 
The most insignificant people are the most apt to sneer at others. — 
Hazlitt 

A snob is one who is always pretending to be something better — 
especially richer or more fashionable than others. — Thackeray. 

Snobs in high places assume great airs, and are pretentious in all 
they do ; and the higher their elevation, the more conspicuous is the 
incongruity of their position. — S. Smiles. 

There are four varieties in society ; the lovers, the ambitious, ob- 
servers, and fools. The fools are the happiest. — Taine. 

Society is now one polished horde, formed of two mighty tribes, the 
bores and bored. — Byron. 

Solitude is the audience chamber of God. — L. E. Landon. 

O sacred solitude ! divine retreat ! choice of the prudent ! envy of the 
great ! by thy pure stream, or in thy waving shade, we court fair wis- 
dom. — Young. 

It was his nature to blossom into song, as it is a tree's to leaf itself 
in April. — Alexander Smith 



BKST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE I?HX 589 

A song will outlive all sermons in the memory. — H. Giles. 

Sophistry 521 [ s like a window curtain— it pleases as an ornament, but 
its true use is to keep out the light. — Anon. 

Sophistry, like poison, is at once detected and nauseated, when pre- 
sented to us in a concentrated form ; but a fallacy 508 which, when stated 
barely in a few sentences, would not deceive a child, may deceive half 
the world, if diluted in a quarto volume. — Whately. 

Sorrows are often like clouds, which, though black when they are 
passing over us, when they are past, become as if they were the garments 
of God, thrown off in purple and gold along the sky. — H. W . Beecher. 

Sorrow S94 is not an accident occurring now and then. It is the woof 
which is woven into the warp of life, and he who has not discerned the 
divine sacredness of sorrow, and profound meaning which is concealed 
in pain, has yet to learn what life is. The cross, manifested as the neces- 
sity of the highest life, alone interprets it. — F. W. Robertson. 

What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind. What 
is the soul? It is immaterial. 273 — Hood, 

The soul, of origin divine, God's glorious image* freed from clay, in 
heaven's eternal sphere shall shine, a star of day ! The sun is but a spark 
of fire, a transient meteor in the sky; the soul, immortal as its sire, shall 
never die. — Montgomery. 

The sound must seem an echo to the sense. 242 — Pope. 
Verse sweetens toil, however rude the sound. — Gifford. 

Spring unlocks the flowers to paint the laughing soil. — Heber. 
Stately spring ! whose robe- folds are valleys, whose breast-bouquet is 
gardens, and whose blush is vernal evening. 161 — Richter. 

Silent, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, blossomed the 
lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of angels. — Longfellow. 

The stars are mansions built by nature's hand, and haply, there the 
spirits of the blest dwell, clothed in radiance, their immortal rest. — 
Wadsworth. 

In a free country, there is much clamor with little suffering: in a 
despotic state, there is little complaint, but much suffering. 184 — Carnot. 

That state is best ordered where the wicked have no command, and 
the good have. — Pittacus. 

True statemanship is the art of changing a nation from what it is 
into what it ought to be. — IV. R. Alger. 

Honest statesmanship is the wise employment of individual mean- 
nesses for the public good. — Lincoln. 

A story should, to please, at least seem true, be apropos, well told, 
concise, and new; and whensoe'er it deviates from these rules, the wise 
will sleep, and leave applause to fools. — Stillingflect. 

Stories now, to suit the public taste, must be half epigram, 190 half 
pleasant vice. — /. R. Lowell. 



590 BEST THOUGHTS OF BE)ST THINKERS. 

Strength is born in the deep silence of long-suffering hearts; not 
amidst joy. — Mrs. Hemans. 

Strength alone knows conflict ; weakness is below even defeat, and is 
born vanquished. — Mad. Swetchine. 

Studies teach not their own use; that is a wisdom without them and 
above them, won by observation.380 — Bacon. 

They are not the best students who are most dependent upon books. 
What can be got out of them is at best only material ; a man must build 
his house for himself. — G. Macdonald. 

Style 4 is only the frame to hold our thoughts. It is like the sash of 
a window, if heavy, it will obscure the light. The object is to have as 
little sash as will hold the light, that we may not think of the former, but 
have the latter. — Emmons. 

Obscurity in writing is commonly a proof of darkness in the mind; 
the greatest learning is to be seen in the greatest plainness. — Wilkins. 

Submission is the footprint of faith in the pathway of sorrow. — Anon. 

To do or not to do ; to have or not to have, I leave to thee ; thy only 
will be done in me ; all my requests are lost in one, "Father, thy will be 
done." — C. Wesley. 

Subtlety may deceive you; cunning never will. — Cromwell. 
This is the fruit of craft, that he that shoots up high, looks for the 
shaft, and finds it in his own forehead. — Middleton. 

Success has a great tendency to conceal and throw a veil over the 
evil deeds of men. — Demosthenes. 

Success in life is a matter not so much of talent or opportunity, as of 
concentration and perseverance. — C. W. Wendte. 

Suffering is the surest means of making us truthful to ourselves. — 
Sismondi. 

The light of the world would go out, and despair would darken every 
home, if it were not for some who have learned to suffer and be strong. — 
D. March. 

Suicide is a crime the most revolting to the feelings : nor does any 
reason suggest itself to our understanding by which it can be justified. 
It certainly originates in that species of fear which we denominate pol- 
troonery. For what claim can that man have to courage who trembles 
at the frowns of fortunes? True heroism consists in being superior to 
the ills of life in whatever shape they may challenge him to combat. — 
Napoleon. 

He is not valiant that dares to die; but he that boldly bears cal- 
amity. — Massinger. 

Superstition is not, as has been defined, an excess of religious feeling, 
but a misdirection of it; an exhaustion of it on vanities of man's devis- 
ing. — Whatcly. 

Superstition is a senseless fear of God; religion the intelligent and 
pious worship of the deity. — Cicero. 



BEST THOUGHTS IN DOUBI^ FllX 591 

Suspicion is far more apt to be wrong than right; oftener unjust than 
just. It is no friend to virtue, and always an enemy to happiness. — 
H. Ballou. 

Undue suspicion is more abject baseness even than the guilt sus- 
pected. — H. Ballou. 

Tact comes as much from goodness of heart as from fineness of 
taste. — Endymion. 

A tact which surpassed the tact of her sex as much as the tact of her 
sex surpasses the tact of ours. — Macaulay. 

Talent for talent's sake is a bauble and a show. Talent working with 
joy in the cause of universal truth lifts the possessor to new power as a 
benefactor. — Emerson. 

Talents to strike the eye of posterity should be concentrated. Rays, 
powerless while they are scattered, burn in a point. — Willmott. 

Talkers are no good doers. — Shakespeare. 

The more ideas a man has, the fewer words he takes to express 
them. Wise men never talk to make time ; they talk to save it. — Uncle 
Esek. 

Taste is, so to speak, the microscope of the judgment. — Rousseau. 
Taste depends upon those finer emotions which make the organiza- 
tion of the soul. — Sir J. Reynolds. 

Teachers should be held in the highest honor. They are the allies 
of legislators. — Mrs. Sigourney. 

I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living 
well. — Alexander of Mace don. 

Tears are sometimes the happiest smiles of love. — Stendhal. 
Weep for love, but not for anger; a cold rain will never bring flow- 
ers. — Duncan. 

Temper, if ungoverned, governs the whole man. — Shaftesbury. 

Bad temper is its own scourge. Few things are more bitter than to 
feel bitter. A man's venom poisons himself more than his victim. — 
Charles Buxton. 

Temperance is to the body what religion is to the soul, the founda- 
tion of health and strength and peace. — Tryon Edwards. 

Temperance is corporal piety; it is the preservation of divine order 
in the body. — Theodore Parker. 

Temptations are a file which rub off much of the rust of our self- 
confidence. — Fenelon. 

As!53 the Sandwich Islander believes that the strength and valor of 
the enemy he kills passes into himself, so 1 ^ we gain the strength of the 
temptations we resist. — Emerson. 

Tenderness, without a capacity for relieving, only makes the man who 
feels it more wretched than the object which sues for assistance. — Gold- 
smith. 



592 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

There never was any heart truly great and generous that was not also 
tender and compassionate. — South. 

Titles of honor add not to his worth, who is himself an honor to his 
title. — John Ford. 

It is not titles that reflect honor on men, but men on their titles. — 
Machiavelli. 

Toleration is a good thing in its place, but you cannot tolerate what 
will not tolerate you, and is trying to cut your throat. — Froude. 

We anticipate a time when the love of truth shall have come up to 
our love of liberty, and men shall be cordially tolerant, and earnest 
believers both at once. — Phillips Brooks. 

Travel is the frivolous part of serious lives, and serious part of frivo- 
lous ones. — Mad. Swetchine. 

The world is a great book, of which they who never stir friom home 
read only a page. — Augustine. 

Treason and murder are ever kept together, as two yoke-devils, sworn 
to either's purpose. — Shakespeare. 

A traitor is good fruit to hang from the boughs of the tree of 
liberty. — H. W. Beecher. 

Trials are medicines which our gracious and wise physician prescribes 
because we need them ; and he proportions the frequency and weight of 
them to what the case requires. Let us trust in his skill, and thank him 
for his prescription. — John Newton. 

Great trials seem to be a necessary preparation for great duties. — 
B. Thomson. 

Trifles make the sum of human things, and half our misery from our 
foibles springs. — H. Moore. 

If the nose of Cleopatra had been a little shorter, it would have 
changed the history of the world. — Pascal. 

Troubles are usually the brooms and shovels that smooth the road 
to a good man's fortune, and many a man curses the rain that falls upon 
his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away hun- 
ger. — Basil. 

Troubles are the next best things to enjoyment; there is no fate in 
the world so horrible as to have no share in either its joys or sorrows. — 
Longfellow. 

Trust God where you cannot trace him. Do not try to penetrate the 
cloud he brings over you. The mystery is God's ; the promise is yours. — 
Macduff. 

That man who trusts men will make fewer mistakes than he who 
distrusts them. — Cavour. 

Tyranny and anarchy are never far asunder. — /. Bentham. 
Hateful is the power, and pitiable is the life, of those who wish to be 
feared rather than to be loved. — Cornelius Ncpos. 






BE)ST THOUGHTS IN DOUBLE FH*E. 593 

u 

Unkind language is sure to produce the fruits of unkindness, that 
is, suffering in the bosom of others. — Bent ham. 

Hard unkindness mocks the tear it forced to flow. — Gray. 

Union does everything when it is perfect. — Senacour. 
What science calls the unity and uniformity of nature, truth calls 
the fidelity of God. — Martineau. 

The useful and the beautiful are never separated. — Periander. 
Nothing in this world is so good as usefulness. — B. C. Brodie. 

V 

Valor would cease to be virtue, if there were no injustice. — Agesilaus. 
The mean of true valor lies between the extremes of cowardice and 
rashness. — Cervantes. 

Vanity keeps persons in favor with themselves who are out of favor 
with all others. — Shakespeare. 

Every man has just as much vanity as he wants understanding. — 
Pope. 

Variety alone gives joy; the sweetest meats the soonest cloy. — Prior. 
Order in variety we see ; though all things differ, all agree. — Pope. 

Vengeance has no foresight. — Napoleon.. 

Deep vengeance is the daughter of deep silence. — Alfieri. 

Vice stings us even in our pleasures, but virtue consoles us even in 
our pains. — Colton. 

The willing contemplation of vice is vice. — Arabian Proverb. 

Victory may be honorable to the arms, but shameful to the counsels 
of the nation. — Bolingbroke. 

In victory, the hero seeks the glory, not the prey. — Sir P. Sidney. 

Virtue I love, without austerity; pleasure, without effeminacy; and 
life without fearing its end. — St. Bvremond. 

That virtue which requires to be ever guarded is scarce worth the 
sentinel. — Goldsmith. 

Thy voice is celestial melody. — Longfellow. 

The sweetest of all sounds is that of the voice of the woman we 
love. — Bruyere. 

The vows that woman makes to her fond lover are only fit to be 
written on air, or on the swiftly passing stream. — Catullus. 
Unheedful vows may needfully be broken. — Shakespeare. 



Wisdom teaches us to do, as well as talk, and to make our words 
and actions all of a color. — Seneca. 

The first point of wisdom is to discern that which is false ; the second 
to know that which is true. — Lactantins. 



594 B ^ ST THOUGHTS OF b£st thinkers. 



Youth is a continual intoxication ; it is the fever of reason. — Roche- 
foucauld. 

Youth, enthusiasm, and tenderness are like the days of spring. In- 
stead of complaining, oh, my heart, try to enjoy them. — Ruckert. 



Zeal without knowledge is like fire withtmt a grate to contain it; 
like a sword without a hilt to wield it by ; like a high-bred horse without 
a bridle to guide him. It speaks without thinking, acts without plan- 
ning, seeks to accomplish a good end without the adoption of becoming 
means. — Bate. 

Zeal is very blind, or badly regulated, when it encroaches upon the 
rights of others. — Quesnel. 



BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT INDEXES. 

An index is a necessary implement, without which a large author is 
but a labyrinth without a clue to direct the readers with. — Fuller. 

A book without an index is much like a compass-box without a needle, 
perplexing instead of directing to the point we would reach. — Anon. 

I certainly think the best book in the world would owe the most to! 
a good index; and the worst book, if it had in it but a single good 
thought, might be kept alive by it. — Horace Binney. 

Of many large volumes, the index is the best portion and the most 
useful. — A glance through the casement gives whatever knowledge of 
the interior is needful. — Wilmott. 

Get a thorough insight into the index, by which the whole book is 
governed. — Swift. 

I have come to regard a good book as curtailed of half its value if it 
has not a pretty full index. It is almost impossible without such a guide 
to reproduce on demand the most striking thoughts or facts the book 
contains, whether for citation or further consideration. — Binney. 

Those authors who are voluminous would do well, if they would 
be remembered as long as possible, not to omit a duty which authors in 
general, and especially modern authors neglect, that of appending to their 
works a good index. — Henry Rogers. 



595 



topical flnber* 



NoTE.' — In looking up any topic, the reader should scan the whole page referred 
to by the index, because one topic is often alluded to several times on the same 
page, but the index gives the number only once. More than three thousand topics 
are indexed, which, with the number of pages assigned to each topic and the num- 
ber of times which that topic occurs on the page, makes a total of about one hun- 
dred thousand gems of thought thus made available in this one volume. 



Aaron : 284. 

Aberdeen, Archdeacon of: 75 

Abhor: 343. 

Ability: 128, 533. 535- 

Abominable: 229, 404, 539. 

Above: 417, 458, 536. 

Abney: 316. 

Abraham: 284. 

Abridgment: 114. 

Abroad: 227, 329, 431. 

Absent: 204, 533. 

Abstain: 354, 356. 

Absurdity : 394. 

Abundant: 285, 395. 

Abuse: 212, 431, 533. 

Accessory: 572. 

Accident: 232, 531, 537. 

Accuracy: 201, 533. 

Ache: 179, 324. 

Achieve: 203. 

Acquire: 229. 

Acrostic: 77, 377, 468. 

Action, Acts: 101, 184, 207, 212, 226, 

228, 229, 231, 250, 253, 283, 323, 344, 

353, 369, 402, 425, 430, 431, 433, 468, 

533, 535, 536, 537, 552. 
Activity: 113, 342, 419, 552. 
Actor: 178, 254, 533. 
Adam: 207, 326. 
Addison's "Spectator": 194. 
Address: 533. 
Admiration, Admirable: 227, 228, 250, 

285, 286, 343, 525, 53i, 534, 544, 552. 
Adoption: 227. 
Adore: 326, 352, 356. 
Adrenalin: 308. 

Advantage: 205, 337, 338, 343, 542, 543. 
Adverb: 213. 
Adversary : 209, 384. 
Adversity: 113, 162, 177, 179, 183, 212, 

533, 553, 554- 
Advice: 533. 

Aelfred, King: 64, 67, 471. 
Aethelstan, King : 66. 
Affairs: 179, 225, 431, 546. 
Affectation: 534, 545, 560. 
Affections: 176, 183, 275, 343, 354, 432, 

524, 534, 548. 
Afflicting, early meaning of: 49. 
Affliction: 209, 354, 534, 542, 543. 
Agassiz: 427. 
Agate: 211. 
Age: 142, 166, 179, 184, 210, 247, 248, 

249, 276, 283, 284, 288, 323, 327, 328, 

339, 369, 425, 430, 43i, 523, 534, 536, 

537, 543, 576. 
Age of Specialization: 133. 
Agent: 179, 540. 
Agitation: 533. 
Agonistes, Samson: 286. 
Agricultural Schools: 139. 
Agriculture : 534. 
Aim: 210, 276, 533, 536. 



Air: 210, 228, 229, 232, 251, 288, 338, 
383, 396, 416, 540, 541, 55i, 552. 

Ajax and Ulysses: 253. 

Alabama, meaning of: 80. 

Alacrity: 178. 

Alarum, Alarm: 209, 341, 538. 

Albigensian: 391. 

Alderman, 211. 

Aldheim, 64. 

Aleatia Illustrata: 188. 

Alexander: 230. 

Alexander, Abraham: 463. 

Alexander, John M'Knitt: 463. 

Alexandria: 187. 

Algol: 290. 

ALL CHURCHES DOING THE SAME 
WORK: 378. 

Allegory: 7, 533. 

Alligator, origin of: 54. 

Almagest: 298. 

Almanac : 283. 

Alms, 248. 

Alone: 113, 167, 568. 

Allowance, early meaning of: 49. 

All's Well That Ends Well: 185. 

Alphabet: 201, 235. 

Alphabet, Best Thought: 128. 

Alps: 276. 

Altar: 340, 354- 

Altruism: 421, 425- 

Ambassador : 248. 

Amber: 283. 

Ambiguity: 213. 

Ambition, 190, 210, 233, 356, 535- 

America: 535. 

American Revolution, 92. 

Amiable, applied to fruit: 48. 

Amorous, 209. 

Amusement: 201, 535, 556. 

Anapaestic: 18. 

Anarchist: 379, 535- 

Anatomy: 179, 57 1- 

Ancestors: 178, 533, 538. 

Anchor, 191, 344- 

Andronicus, Titus: 211. 

Anecdote, early meaning of: 49. 

Anecdotes: 535, 582. 

A NEW AND COSTLY DRUG: 308. 

Angel: 179, 183, 207, 210, 228, 243, 250, 
252, 254, 284, 286, 287, 322, 323, 
324, 325, 328, 329, 344, 356, 384, 4i6, 
429, 430, 448, 524, 525, 535, 537, 54i, 
562, 589. 

Anger: 179, 192, 326, 394, 468, 535. 
59i- 

Angler: 251. 

Angles: 60. 

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: 65. 

Anglo-Saxon Poem : 62. 

Anguish : 211. 

Aniline Colors: 310. 

Animal Spirits: 221. 

Anlaf, the Dane: 66. 



596 



BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



Annihilation : 339. 

Anoint: 205. 

Antecedents: 104. 

Anthony and Cleopatra: 233. 

Anthropology: 335, 33 6. 

Antic: 205. 

Antidote: 142, 226, 531. 

Antique, Antiquity: 191, c^, e 4 g 

Antithesis: 8. 54 

Antonaida: 280. 

Antony: 187, 325. 

Anvil: 204. 

Anxiety: 535. 

Ape: 179. 

Apollo: 287. 

Apology: 535. 

Apostles: 161. 

Apostles' Creed: 360, 371, 406. 

Apostrophe: 9. 

Apostrophe to Freedom: 75 

Apostrophe to Nature: 28. 

Apothecary: 231. 

Apothegm: 535, 5 32. 

Apparel: 180, 227. 

Apparition : 325, 

Appeal to Man: 28. 

Appetite: 203, 205, 536, 548, 582. 

Applause: 215, 226, 536. 

Apple: 182, 185, 191, 214, 382. 

Appreciation: 536. 

Apprehension: 179, 205, 228, ? 44 

April: l6 i, 177, l8s , S 8 9 . 

Arabian Nights: 360. 

Arbitrary: 339 , 340) S46) 552 . 

Arcadia: 193. 

Archaeologist: 236. 

Architecture: 536. 

ARCHITECTURE OF EXPRESSION • 

103, 313. 
Aroturus: 290. 
Areopagitica: 47, 289. 
Argelander: 291 
Argument: 128, 181, 285, 343, 426, 53 6, 

Arise: 285. 
Aristocracy: 536. 
Arizona: 300. 

Arkansas, meaning of: 80. 
Arkwright: 426. 
Armorican : 60. 



Arms, Armor: 92, 180, 184, 204, 208, 
209, 228, 231, 243, 248, 250, 253, 283, 
285, 327, 341, 355, 536. 

Army: 128, 352, 383, 468, 536, 541, 576. 

Arnold, Matthew: 408. 

Arrogance: 394. 

Arrow: 228, 485, 534, 539. 

ART: 526. 

Art, Artist: 14-17, 100, 101, 132, 181, 
193, 249, 289, 325, 340, 342, 526, 531, 

534, 536, 559- 
Artificial Diamonds: 307. 
Ascent: 339, 356, 532. 
Ashamed: 377, 542. 
Ashes: 230. 

Ashton: 254. 

Aspect: 210, 538. 

Aspire: 210, 340, 344, 536. 

Assertion: 536. 

Assurance: 113, 179, 226, 230. 

Asteroids: 295. 

AS TO NEWSPAPERS: 489. 

Astonished, early meaning of: 50. 

Astor Library: 189. 

Astral: 421. 

Astronomy: 25, 277, 538. 

Astruc: 365, 366. 

Asunder: 324. 

As You Like It: 183. 

Atheism: 247, 385, 427, 535, 536. 

Athenaeum Library: 189: 

Atonement: 198. 

Attainment: 355- 

Attempt: 178, 253. 

Attention: 205, 536, 546, 550. 

Attraction: 212. 

Auerbach: 195. 

Authenticity: 361. 

Author: 114, 128, 181, 191, 324, 533, 

535, 537- 

Authority: 179, 369, 535, 55°. 

Autumn : 246. 

Avarice: 147, 356, 532, 537, 558, 569- 

Avaunt: 327. 

Awake: 285, 353- 

Awe: 182, 327, 403. 

A WOMAN'S QUESTION: 244. 

Awry: 229. 

Axe: 208. 



Babe : 522, 537. 

Eachelor: 179, 180. 

Bad: 228, 230, 323, 343, 370) 39Sj 

540, 542. 
Badge: 211. 
Balance: 165. 
Ballad: 184, 325, 531. 
Ballast: 560. 
Ballot-box: 534. 
Ballou, Hosea: 415. 
Balm: 205, 226. 
Balzac: 195, 196. 
Bane: 285. 
Eank: 183. 

Bankrupt, origin of: 54. 
Baptism: 371. 
Baptist: 380, 386. 
Bar: 244, 254. 
Barbarism: 339, 540. 
Bargain: 206. 
Bark: 182, 209. 



B 

Barren: 205, 395- 
Baseness: 537. 
1 1 5, Bashfulness: 537. 
Bath: 226. 
Battalion: 230. 
Battle: 231, 232. 
Battle of Finnesburg: 65. 
Battle of the Baltic: 66. 
Battle Song of Brunanburh: 65. 
Bauer, Bruno: 350. 
Bayonet: 276. 
Baxter, Richard 188. 
Beams: 183, 524. 
Beard: 164, 184, 537. 
Beast: 225, 232, 430, 435, 436. 
Beatitudes: 405. 
Beaumont: 283. 
Beau Nash: 329. 
Beauregard: 316. 

Beautiful: 112, 208, 337, 394, 418, 419, 
420, 524, 531, 534, 536, 540, 569, 593. 



INDEX. 



Beautiful Thoughts: 23. 

Beauty: 8, 10, 128, 144, 145, 146, 181, 
182, 183, 185, 203, 208, 211, 243, 244, 
249, 286, 322, 341, 385, 395, 523, 525, 

536, 537, 542, 544, 548, 55i, 561. 
Becquerel, Prof: 260, 316. 

Bed: 204, 328, 404. 

Bede, Adam : 202. 

Bedfellows: 177. 

Beecher, H. W: 168. 

Bees: 146, 177, 248. 

Beetle: 179. 

Beget. Begot: 211, 229, 537, 543. 

Beggar: 214, 233, 254, 538, 544, 558. 

Beguile: 232, 355. 

Behavior: 327, 525, 537, 542. 

Belief: 142, 249, 342, 352, 353, 369, 370, 

383, 384, 385, 394, 421, 431, 437, 544. 

556. 
Believer: 113, 369, 384. 
Bell: 207, 252, 420. 
Belles Lettres: 149. 
Benedict: 179. 
Benediction: 165. 
Beneficence: 537. 
Benefit: 394, 425, 430, 533- 
Benevolence: 93, 340, 343, 355, 468, 

537, 559- 
Ben Hur : 202. 
Benighted : 286. 
Bentley : 364. 
Beowolf : 62. 
Berkeley, Bishop: 188. 
Berry: 181, 251. 

BEST THOUGHT ALPHABET: 128. 
BEST THOUGHTS SERIES: 

About Art: 531. 

About Belief: 369. 

About Books: 192. 

About Character and Beputation: 
429. 

About Credulity : 384. 

About Creeds: 384. 

About Doctrine : 394. 

About Dogmatism: 394. 

About Doubt: 354. 

About Eternity: 418. 

About Faith: 352. 

About Fiction: 201. 

About Forgiveness: 417. 

About Heaven: 418. 

About Hell: 403. 

About Humility: 355. 

About Ideas: 275. 

About Indexes : 594. 

About Language: 35. 

About Libraries: 190. 

About Mediocrity: 132. 

About Mind: 79. 

About Mothers: 522. 

About Oratory : 1 76. 

About Philosophy: 57. 

About Poetry: 37. 

About Punishment: 403. 

About Religion: 336. 

About Sin: 402. 

About Unity: 377. 

About "Words: 33. 

About the World, the Flesh and the 
Devil: 395. 

About Woman: 524. 

Acrostically Arranged: 468. 

Amplified: 91, 146. 

From Familiar Texts: 382. 

In Double File: 533. 

Of the Seventeenth Century: 322. 
Beware: 227, 323. 
Betray: 325. 
Bible, Paraphrase of: 62. 



457- 



210, 212, 231, 326, 



597 

Bible: 233, 242, 337, 345 , 384, 409, 421, 

436, 538, 560. 
BIBLICAL CRITICISM: 345, 357 . 
Bibliotheque Nationale: 188. 
Bichromate Cell: 318. 
Bigot: 385, 538. 
Billows: 328, 430. 
Biography: 142, 538, 
Birds: 211, 227, 254, 383, 435- 
Birtn: 166, 212, 227, 250, 538. 
Bit, early meaning of: 54. 
Bitter: 185, 285, 354, 402, 484, 577- 
Blackberries : 206. 
Blackguard, early meaning of: 50. 
Black Sea: 59. 
Bladder, 210. 
Blair, Montgomery: 
Blake: 145. 
Blame: 396, 485. 
Blaspheme : 287. 
Blast: 207. 
Blazon: 228. 
Blessed: 182, 205, 

384, 405, 538. 
Blessings: 165, 252, 324, 328, 337, 339, 

340, 353, 532, 562, 563. 
Blind: 181, 182, 326, 468, 523, 566. 
Bliss: 164, 208, 522, 551. 
Blockhead: 538. 
Blood: 184, 190, 206, 207, 228, 485, 523, 

561. 
Blossom: 210, 253. 
Blow: 326, 458. 
BLUE LAWS: 466. 
Blue-stocking, early meaning of: 55. 
Blunder: 192. 

Blush: 147, 210, 254, 538, 567. 
Blustering: 538. 
Boast: 402, 538. 
Bodkin, 229. 
Bodleian library: 188. 
Body: 113, 147, 166, 205, 344, 352, 377, 

426, 471, 481, 537, 538, 540, 541, 543, 

55i. 
Bohemian Husse: 72. 
Bohn, M: 273. 
Bombast: 10. 

Bombast, early meaning of: 50. 
Bond, 226, 355. 
Bondage: 327. 
Bones: 205, 288, 384, 432. 
"Book by Book": 360. 
Book of Common Prayer: 360. 
Books: 94, 161, 162, 177, 181, 184, 190, 

191, 192, 247, 286, 289, 323, 325, 342, 

382, 384, 416, 426, 468, 536, 554, 582. 
Boor, early meaning of: 52. 
Bootes : 290. 
Born: 142, 203, 210, 227, 248, 251, 285, 

323, 326, 339, 369, 417, 522, 537, 557. 
Borrow: 251, 538. 
Bosom: 209, 226, 396, 522, 543, 556, 

593- 
Bossuet: 369. 
Bourbon : 326. 
Bourgeoisie: 194. 
Bourne : 229. 
Bowels : 206. 

Boys: 210, 214, 216, 244. 
Bradford, Gov: 465. 
Brahmo Somaj : 408. 
Brain: 180, 191, 206, 211, 226, 230, 232, 

249, 353, 422, 423. 424, 426, 468, 537, 

557, 566, 577. 
Brandy: 92. 
Brass: 210. 



598 



BEST THOUGHTS OF BE)ST THINKERS. 



Brat, early meaning of: 52. 

Brave: 323, 354, 417. 538, 557, 57o. 

Breach: 207, 227, 232. 

Bread: 192, 249, 254, 324, 353, 383, 

447. 
Breakfast: 207. 
Breast: 101, 286, 328. 
Breast-plate, 208. 
Breathe: 326, 435. 
Breed, Breeding: 212, 343, 539, 542, 

559- 
Brevity: 228, 539. 
Bride: 146, 245. 
Bridegroom : 206. 
Bridge: 417. 
Brihtnoth : 66. 
Brilliancy: 201, 356. 
Britain : 60. 
British Museum: 188. 
Bronte, Charlotte: 195. 
Brook: 184, 208, 323. 
Brotherhood: 421, 425. 
Brothers: 192, 230, 355, 396, 421, 425, 

435, 523, 539, 558. 
Brow: 182, 209, 230, 420, 484, 523. 
Browne, Sir Thomas: 289. 



Browning : 409. 

Bruce: 365. 

Bruise: 179, 206, 209. 

Brutality, Brute: 276, 325, 342, 435, 
55i- 

Brutus: 225. 

Bubble: 184, 247. 

Buckram: 206. 

Bud: 203. 

Bullets: 180. 

Bulwer: 195. 

Bunghole: 230. 

Burden: 342, 419, 562. 

Burial: 128, 432, 468. 

Burlesque : 482, 483. 

Burn: 178, 212, 228. 

Burroughs, John: 150. 

Bush: 209. 

Business: 251, 551, 556, 568. 

BUSINESS OF A COLLEGE PRESI- 
DENT: 115. 

Bust: 329. 

Butler, Dr. William: 251. 

Butter: 312. 

Buy, Buying: 163, 205, 227. 



Caedmon: 62. 

Caesar: 60, 142, 176, 225, 230. 

Caesar's Column: 200. 

Cage: 254. 

Cake: 185. 

Calamity: 229, 250, 539, 590. 

California, meaning of: 80. 

Call: 205. 

Calm: 342, 396, 538. 

Calumny: 229, 433, 539, 543- 

Cambyses : 147. 

Camel: 205. 

Camera: 315. 

Campbell, Prof. : 300. 

Canals of Schiaparelli : 299. 

Canard, origin of: 56. 

Candle: 183, 212, 534, 557- 

Candor: 539. 

Cannibal : 232. 

Cannon: 184, 563. 

Cannon Ball, Song of: 19. 

Canon: 227. 

Canopy: 228. 

Cant: 539. 

Canterbury Tales: 77, 161. 

Canvas: 244. 

Capable: 229, 230. 

Caper: 209. 

Captain: 205, 233. 

Captive, Capture: 286. 

Carbon Sticks: 312. 

Carcanet: 233. 

Cardinal: 344. 

Care, Careful: 167, 203, 226, 248, 287, 

288, 340, 342, 434, 436, 484, 523, 539, 

540, 546. 
Carlyle, Thos. : 408. 
Carteret, Sir Geo.: 81. 
Casein: 312. 
Cassius: 225. 
Castelar, 407. 
Castle: 165, 205. 
Cat: 230, 342, 404. 
Catarrh, 308. 
Cathedral: 341. 
Catholic: 378, 397, 439. 



Caucasus: 205. 

Cause, Causation: 208, 231, 377, 425, 

540, 574- 
Cautious, Caution: 370, 539. 
Cavil : 206. 
Celestial : 343. 
Celts: 60. 

Censure: 227, 327, 539. 
Century: 253, 416. 
Ceremony: 178, 539. 
Certainty : 354. 
Certificate: 342. 
Cervantes: 194. 

Chain: 250, 288, 542, 557, 582. 
Chamber: 209. 
Chance: 178, 232, 385, 540. 
Chandler: 290. 
Change: 113, 415, 418. 
Character: 201, 338, 343, 355, 385, 404, 

i 426, 427, 428, 429, 430, 431, 432, 433, 
434, 472, 532, 537, 538, 540, 541/ 546, 

\ 55o, 551, 552, 556, 561. 
Charge of the Light Brigade: 66. 
Charity: 147, 342, 344, 384, 417, 419, 

43i, 54o, 567. 
Charlemagne, 424. 
Charles I,: 80, 132. 
Charles II.: 81, 384. 
"Charles O'Malley": 202. 
Charm: 227, 243, 287, 323, 328, 533, 

539, 54i, 544- 
Charybdis: 182. 
Chase, Salmon P.: 457. 

Chaste, Chastity: 147, 211, 229, 233, 
286, 287, 326, 356, 524, 53i, 534, 538, 

540, 572. 
Chastise: 403. 

Chaucer, Geoffrey, 77, 283. 

Cheat: 209, 550. 

Cheek: 203, 211, 231, 244, 246, 250, 288, 

485, 523, 540. 
Cheer, Cheerful: 163, 338, 344, 540. 
Chemic Union : 24. 
Chemist, early meaning of: 50. 
CHEMISTS, WEALTH MADE BY: 309. 
Cherries: 247. 



TOPICAL INDEX. 



599 



Cherubim: 183. 

Cheyne, Prof.: 347, 351, 

Chicago — Lambeth Articles: 371. 

Chickens, 546. 

Chide: 416, 523. 

Child, Children: 112, 113, 128, 146, 182, 
201, 204, 211, 215, 231, 242, 243, 244, 
286, 342, 383, 395, 414, 421, 423, 430, 

437, 439, 450, 451, 452, 522, 523, 524, 
53i, 534, 537, 540, 550, 558, 575, 578. 

Childhood: 112, 286. 

Chimney Sweeper: 145, 545. 

Chief: 214, 419. 

Chin: 206. 

Chinese Dictionary: 189. 

Chinese Names : 83. 

Chinese, The, by Mandeville: 70. 

Choate, Rufus: 172. 

Choice, Choose: 185, 233, 324, 327, 339, 

431, 434, 534- 
Christ: 161, 205, 219, 343, 345, 369, 

377, 386, 397, 409, 416, 419, 424, 57i. 
Christian: 356, 377, 378, 384, 396, 420, 

438, 523, 540, 544, 551- 
Christianity : 336, 338, 339, 340, 345, 

369, 37i, 406, 436, 471, 54o, 567, 573- 
Christmas: 163. 
Christian Science: 397, 400. 
Church: 212, 217, 248, 339, 344, 345, 

37i, 378, 386, 396, 438, 536, 540, 549, 

55i- 
Church, Prof.: 315, 336- 
Cicero: 171, 176, 241, 364. 
Circuit: 208. 

Circumstances: 142, 430, 432, 540, 552. 
City: 142, 254, 338, 342, 377, 384, 540. 
Civilize: 142, 339, 340, 432, 502, 541. 
Clad: 227, 286. 
Clarissa Harlowe: 194. 
CLASSICS PRO AND CON: 41. 
Clay: 230, 523, 559- 
Cleanse: 226, 541. 
CLEARNESS: 104. 
Clearness: 213, 283, 534. 
Clemency: 541. 
Cleopatra: 185. 
Clerious : 365. 
Clerk: 190. 
Cloak: 341. 
Clock: 538. 
Clothes: 142, 227, 231, 426, 542, 546, 

55 1 ' 557- „ 

Cloud: 192, 207, 209, 382, 418, 420, 458, 

541, 543, 56o, 589. 
Coal Tar: 310. 
Coat: 101, 227, 245. 
Cockloft: 322. 
Cogitate : 326. 
Cogswell, Jos. G: 189. 
Coil: 229. 

Coin: 165, 342, 523, 542. 
Coincide, origin of: 51. 
Cold: 165, 499, 522, 535, 574, 591- 
COLLEGE EDUCATION, FUNCTION 

OF: 121. 
COLLEGE MAN'S LAMBS: 158. 
COLLEGE MEN AS FATHERS: 159. 
COLLEGE PRESIDENT, BUSINESS 

OF: 115. 
Coll en, Henry: 317. 
Colorado, meaning of: 80. 
COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY: 315. 
Colors: 205, 301, 321, 540. 
Columbus: 576. 
Combination: 230, 339, 543. 
Comfort: 184, 190, 192, 338, 383, 384, 

485, 54i, 543- 



Comedy of Errors: 179. 

Command: 230, 254, 327, 343, 355, 44 6, 

535, 536, 54i, 55i, 589- 
Commandment: 208. 
Commendation: 112, 539. 
Commerce: 288, 427, 541, 567. 
Commodity: 205. 
Common Sense: 128, 541. 
Commonwealth: 132, 248, 338. 
Communicate: 285. 
Communism: 541. 
Companion: 431, 537. 
Comparison: 4, 249, 383. 
Comparison Stars: 294. 
Company: 192, 206, 433, 542. 
Compassion: 325, 425, 446, 542, 592. 
Compensation; 542. 
Competency: 132. 
Competition: 344. 
Complaisance: 542. 
Compliment: 114, 142, 216, 542. 
Comprehend: 369, 394. 
Compromise: 542. 
Compulsion: 206. 
Comus: 286. 
Concealment: 203, 544. 
Conceit: 142, 542. 
Conception: 166, 538. 
Concord: 183. 
Conde: 369. 

Condemn: 178, 209, 404. 
Conduct: 339, 431, 446, 525, 538, 542, 

543, 
Conference : 247. 
Confession : 542. 
Confidence: 344, 396, 419, 543. 
Confine : 227. 
Confucius : 440. 
Confusion : 377. 
Congregation: 228, 326. 
Congregationalist : 387. 
Conjugations: 221. 
Connecticut, meaning of: 80. 
"Connecticut Yankee": 200. 
Conquer: 142, 283, 430, 532, 544. 
Conquerors: 91, 113, 204. 
Consanguinity: 355. 
Conscience: 113, 208, 209, 229, 327, 338, 

342, 370, 394, 404, 434, 438, 448, 534, 

537, 543, 556, 561, 566, 573- 
Conscious: 254, 340, 377, 402, 524, 
Conservatism : 543. 
Consider, Consideration: 165, 207, 395, 

53i, 542, 559- 
Consistency: 543. 
Consolation: 343, 396, 543. 
Conspiracy : 543. 
Constancy: 543. 
Consummation: 228, 541. 
Contemplation : 543. 
Contempt: 341, 535, 543. 
Contention: 342, 543. 
Contentment: 166, 210, 233, 543, 544. 
Continence : 540. 
Conundrum: 12. 
Contumely : 229. 
Conversation: 276, 343, 426, 427, 535, 

536, 544, 572. 
Conversion : 544. 
Conviction: 353, 355, 401. 
Cook: 244, 245. 
Cooper, J. Fenimore: 195. 
Copper: 301. 

Coquet, once included males: 51. 
Coquette : 544. 
Coriolanus: 211. 
Corn: 162, 313, 327, 356. 



6oo 



BKST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



Corporations: 165. 

Corpse, early meaning of: 51. 

Corrupt: 208, 337. 385. 

Corson, Prof.: 152. 

Cortez: 80. 

Cosmo de Medici: 187. 

Cosmology: 335. 336. 

Cosmos: 425. 

Cost, Costly: 227, 244, 245, 340. 

Cottage: 284, 447- 

Cottonseed: 314 

Counsel: 544. 

Counterfeit: 230, 288, 571. 

" Count of Monte Cristo." : 202 

Country: 205, 210, 229, 276, 327, 329, 

394, 424, 535, 542, 544- 
Courage: 204, 212, 226, 285, 541, 544. 

55i> 556. 
Courage, derivation of: 49. 
Court: 142, 209, 343, 45o, 542, 544- 
Courtesy: 167, 355, 544- 
Courtship: 545. 
Cover: 205. 
Covet: 208, 395, 545- 
Coward: 206, 209, 225, 229, 545, 553, 

556. 
Coxcomb: 545. 
Crack: 226, 433, 545- 
Cradle: 250. 
Crank: 287. 
Cream: 114, 312. 
Create, Creation: 244, 277, 338, 341, 

344, 353, 414, 415, 431, 432, 553, 570. 
Creator: 427. 
Credibility : 363. 
Credit: 177, 545- 
Creditor: 178. 

Credulity: 92, 384, 385, 563, 581. 
Creed: 344, 369, 370, 371, 378, 384, 385, 

386, 397, 421, 555. 
CREEDS AND REASONS: 386, 397, 405. 



Cricket : 288. 

Crime: 227, 403, 417, 438, 449, 545, 

550. 
Criterion: 353. 
Critic: 114, 545. 
Critic, early meaning of: 53. 
Criticism: 243, 345, 357, 539, 540, 545- 
Cromwell: 210, 288. 
Crookes, Sir William: 267, 301. 
Cross: 198, 205, 355, 419, 485, 522, 541, 

545. 
Crowd: 113, 396. 
Crown: 113, 182, 207, 208, 210, 244, 

356, 383, 419, 485, 523, 532, 541, 552. 
Cruel, Cruelty: 230, 403, 432, 446, 531, 

542, 545- 
Cry: 225, 344, 415, 421. 
Crystallize : 276, 304. 
Cudgel: 230. 
Cultivation : 546. 
Culture: 338, 339, 343, 546. 
Cunning: 546. 

Cunning, early meaning of: 52. 
Cup : 249. 

Cupid: 180, 181, 248, 252. 
Curative Powers of Light: 321. 
Cure: 226, 321, 403, 418, 539, 568. 
Curie, M. and Mme. : 257, 301. 
CURIOSITIES OF LANGUAGE, 48. 
Curiosity: 190, 191, 385, 546. 
Curiosity, early meaning of: 53. 
Curl: 230. 
Curse : 248, 546. 
Current: 229, 536. 
Custom, 227, 340, 342, 369, 546. 
Cyclic law; 423. 
Cyclopedia: 574. 
Cymbeline: 233. 
Cynewulf: 65. 
Cynic : 546. 
Cytherea : 203. 






Dactylic Verse: 18. 

Daffodils: 203. 

Daguerre; 315. 

Dainty: 230. 

Daisy: 162, 181, 243. 

Dakota, meaning of: 80. 

Dale, Dr. : 352. 

Dales: 167. 

Dalliance: 227. 

Damage: 434. 

Dance: 204, 250, 546. 

Dandy: 546. 

Danger, Dangerous: 208, 225, 232, 260, 

338, 341, 354, 533, 538, 544, 546. 
Danne, M. : 257. 

Dante : 364. * 

Dantzic: 59. 
Danube: 59. 
Danysz, M. : 270. 

Dare: 203, 209, 226, 252, 289, 343, 590. 
Dark, Darkness: 128, 183, 231, 233, 252, 

285, 286, 322, 344, 355, 382, 394, 418, 

468, 562. 
Darkness Before Dawn: 200. 
Dartmouth, Earl: 464. 
Daughter: 231, 534, 546. 
Davidson, A. B. : 347. 
Davie, Gen. Wm. R. : 463. 
Daw: 208, 231. 
Dawn: 227, 243. 



Day: 101, 177, 179, 181, 185, 191, 212, 
225, 226, 230, 286, 288, 324, 327, 356, 
382, 534, 547- 

Daylight: 178, 183. 

Dear: 167, 434, 523, 525- 

Deam, Dead: 112, 147, 166, 177, 178, 
179, 180, 192, 205, 206, 207, 225, 226, 
229, 230, 232, 248, 250, 253, 254, 285, 
287, 322, 327, 342, 353, 382, 384, 416, 
419, 449, 485, 501, 524, 532, 537, 
538, 541, 547, 556. 

Debate: 327, 543, 548. 

Debt: 177, 252, 538, 547. 

Decameron: 77. 

Decay: 183, 250, 339, 353, 385, 534- 

Deceive: 142, 147, 180, 325, 369, 525, 

547- 
December: 185, 205. 
Decency: 324, 539, 547- 
Decision: 524, 538, 547- 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE: 

461. 
Deeds: 99, 112, 162, 183, 185, 204, 244, 

324, 328, 522, 535, 540, 547, 578. 
Deep: 166, 245, 247, 283, 356, 417, 524, 
Defeat: 547. 
Defense: 92, 165, 231, 286, 324, 369, 

421, 433, 468, 539, 
Defer: 328, 547. 
Definition: 469, 483, 547. 



TOPICAL INDKX. 



60 1 



De Foe, S. : 194. 

Deformed: 209, 

Degrees: 250, 323, 342, 404. 

Deimos: 297. 

Deity: 91, 340, 409. 

Delaware, meaning of: 80. 

Delay: 208, 229, 446, 548. 

Deliberate: 327, 394. 

Delicacy: 176, 343, 432, 468, 534. 547. 

S48. 
Delight: 93, 112, 181, 191, 209, 252, 324, 

339, 353, 355, 419, 524, 548. 
Delitzsch: 365. 
Delusion: 190, 325, 548. 
Demure, early meaning of: 52. 
Denmark: 227. 
Denunciation : 482, 
Depart : 207. 
Dependence: 548. 
Depth: 176, 210, 212, 343, 394, 435, 

558. 
Desdemona: 232, 

Desert: 113, 228, 232, 289, 523, 539. 
Deserve: 327, 344, 403, 430, 432, 538, 

55o. 
Desire: 327, 342, 343, 395, 432, 538, 

548, 552, 567. 
Desolation, 548. 
Despair: 29, 113, 254, 339, 344, 355, 

396, 425, 548, 558. 
Despise: 229. 
Despondency: 548. 
Despotism : 549- 
Destiny: 339, 343, 549- 
Destroy: 206, 328, 384, 394, 395, 403, 

430. 
Detraction: 203, 549- 
Deviation: 549. 
Devil: 113, 147, 163, 182, 185, 205, 206, 

209, 228, 326, 342, 355, 356, 395, 402, 

415, 430, 539, 543, 544, 549- 
Devise: 180. 

Devotion: 228, 523, 524, 53^, 538, 549- 
Dew: 166, 227, 549. 
Dexterity, origin of: 54. 
Diadem: 403. 

Diamond: 307, 431, 534, 540, 55°. 
Diana: 211. 
Diary: 190, 568. 
Dice: 142. 
Dickens: 195. 
Die: 180, 185, 203, 225, 228, 287, 288, 

323, 324, 327, 328, 337, 354, 404, 416, 

419, 430, 431, 435, 436, 501, 539, 590. 
Diet: 288, 548. 
Difficulties: 94, 339, 549- 
Diffidence: 533. 
Digby, Kenelm: 188. 
Digest: 247, 542, 543. 
Dignity: 102, 185, 208, 212, 354, 355. 

356, 522, 538, 549, 578. 
Diligence: 550. 
Dim: 328. 
Dirt: 550. 

Disappoint, 340, 536, 550. 
Disaster: 232. 
Discernment: 550. 
Disciple Church: 380, 388. 
Discipline: 339, 353, 432, 569- 
Discontent: 209, 550. 
Discord: 352, 377, 554, 555- 
Discourse: 177, 230, 233, 534. 
Discover: 229, 275, 342, 352, 425, 524, 

534, 544, 550. 
Discretion: 207, 541, 545, 55o« 
Disdain: 245, 250, 394. 



Discussion: 550. 

Disease: 542. 

Disfigure: 578. 

Disgrace: 485, 550. 

Disguise: 339, 344, 553, 563. 

Dishonesty: 550. 

Disintegration: 304. 

Disobedience: 550. 

Dispatch: 551. 

Dispose, Disposition: 163, 338, 430. 

Dispute: 248, 284, 340, 547. 

Dissemble: 209. 

Dissimulation: 551. 

Dissipation: 551. 

Distil: 208. 

Distillation of Coal: 310. 

Distract: 191. 

Distress: 232. 

Diversity: 191. 

Divine: 161, 244, 286, 287, 337, 342, 

344, 352, 354, 369, 377, 403, 416, 417, 

425, 436, 522, 525, 535, 560, 572. 
Divine Image: 145. 
Divinity: 178, 230, 328, 562, 572. 
Divorce: 431, 438. 

Doctrine: 181, 323, 333, 353, 394 , S 6o. 
Dog: 182, 204, 208, 209, 225, 230, 231, 

342, 404, 436, 437. 
Dogma: 199, 333, 344, 378, 394, 408, 

421, 573- 
Domestic happiness: 551. 
Don Quixote: 145. 
Doom: 226, 227, 403. 
Doomsday: 91. 

Boor: 212, 344, 557, 561, 576. 
Doubts: 178, 228, 246, 251, 253, 353, 

354, 355, 414, 431, 434- 
Dough: 185. 
Douglas, Fred: 170. 
Douglas, Stephen A.: 171. 
Doxology: 324. 
Doxy: 370. 

Dragon's Teeth: 354. 
Drama: 329. 

Dramatization of Fiction: 200. 
Dramatization, of History: 200. 
Dread, Dreadful: 181, 182, 209, 229, 

327, 328, 403, 418, 425, 535. 
Dream: 211, 228, 229, 322, 326, 327, 

383, 425, 434, 437, 533, 55i, 569. 
Dress: 551- 

Drink: 165, 249, 250, 325. 
Driver, Cannon: 365. 
Drown: 177, 573. 
Drowsy : 204. 
Drudgery: 394. 

DRUG, A NEW AND COSTLY: 308. 
Drum: 341. 

Drunkenness: 541, 551. 
Due: 205. 

Duke, Dukedom: 190, 343. 
Duke of York: 81. 
Dull: 132, 283, 287, 537, 571. 
Dumas: 195. 

Dumb: 166, 177, 229, 416, 418, 545. 
Dunce: 538. 
Dunce, origin of: 53. 
Dust: 166, 210, 230, 253, 322, 383, 534. 
Dutch: 59. 
Duty: 31, 128, 142, 185, 208, 244, 337, 

338, 343, 355, 394, 403, 4*7, 419, 439, 

448, 524, 537, 549, 557, 558, 561. 
Dwarf: 180, 532. 

Dwell, 355, 403, 433, 533, 538, 541- 
Dying: 205, 324, 403. 



602 



BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



E 



Eadgar, King: 65. 

Eadmund, King: 65. 

Eager: 327. 

Eagle: 209, 211, 323. 575- 

Ear: 162, 181, 183, 203, 204, 207, 211, 

227, 22%, 229, 233, 287, 288, 385, 415, 
420, 42I, 424, 

EARLIEST WRITINGS: 235. 
Early English: 67. 
Earnest: 216, 245, 385, 551. 
Earth: 164, 167, 181, 182, 205, 206, 212, 
226, 228, 230, 254, 276, 285, 286, 287, 
328, 339, 369, 382, 396, 404, 416, 418, 
420, 435, 447. 458, 522, 524, 535, 537, 
538, 55i, 562. 
Ease, Easy: 163, 207, 210, an, 229, 

252, 385, 432, 539. 552, 558, 568. 
East: 211, 227. 
Eat; 207, 232, 252, 383. 
Eboricum: 60. 
Eccentricity: 551. 
Ecclesiology: 335, 336. 
Echo: 226, 342, 552. 
Echoing Green : 145. 
Economy: 552. 
Eddy, Mrs. : 397. 
Edifice: 352. 
Edge: 233. 

Education: 39, 101, 116, 121, 327, 338, 
341, 431, 438, 439. 468, 540, 544, 547- 
EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS, 95- 
Effect: 201, 574. 
Effort: 369. 425. 535, 552. 
Effusive: 221. 
Ego: 422, 423, 535. 
Egotism: 535, 552, 557- 
Egypt: 182, 235, 

Elbe: 59. 

Elders: 437. 

Elegant : 343. 

Elements: 225, 328, 353, 433- 

Elevate: 354, 538. 

Eliot, George: 151, 196, 408. 

Elm: 287. 

Eloquence: 176, 288, 550, 552, 569. 

Elves: 253. 

Elysium: 208. 

Emancipation Proclamation: 457. 

Emblems: 252. 

Embrace, 288, 343, 570. 

Embroidery: 287, 572. 

Eminent: 327, 403, 539, 540. 

Empire: 164, 329. 

Employment: 142, 230, 552. 

Emotion: 354, 545, 552. 

Emulation: 552. 

Enchant: 233, 286. 

Encyclopedia, Biblica: 347. 

Encyclopedia, Jewish: 440. 

END OF A WORLD: 280. 

Endure: 113, 180, 425. 

Ends: 210, 215, 230, 253, 326, 341, 382, 
402, 418, 447, 468, 532, 536, 538, 552, 
561, 570. 

Enemies: 8, 203, 231, 232, 338, 383, 
385, 395, 417, 425, 434, 523, 532, 534. 
539, 552, 577. 

Energy: 551, 552. 

Enforce: 205: 

England: 99, 204, 207, 340. 

ENGLISH AS SHE IS WROTE: 216. 

ENGLISH LANGUAGE, ORIGIN AND 
GROWTH OF: 59. 



English Rogue: 193. 

Enjoyment: 340, 341, 344, 419, 552, 

575- 
Enlighten: 341, 369. 
Enough: 212. 
Ennui: 552. 
Enrich: 192. 
Enterprise: 229, 352. 
Enthusiasm: 551, 553. 
Entrance: 184, 227. 
Envoy: 532, 541, 552, 553. 
Epaminondas, 356. 
Epic Poem: 23. 
Epicure: 395. 
Epigram: 8, 589, 
Epiphany: 18, 
Episcopalian: 388, 439. 
Epitaphs: 219, 402, 553. 
Epoch: 354. 
Equality: 553. 
Equity: 448, 553- 
Erebus: 183. 
Error, Err: 323, 338, 342, 353, 37©, 377, 

414, 417, 433, 522, 532, 540, 546, 

553- 
Erse : 60. 

Eruptive diseases: 321. 
Escape: 228, 229, 232, 342. 
Eschatology: 335, 336. 
Escurial: 188. 
Essence: 179, 192, 244, 343, 4 02 , 446, 

522, 547- 

Esteem: 323, 433, 553- 

Estate: 369. 

Estimate: 355. 

Eternal: 228, 284, 285, 325, 34°, 344, 

Eternal progress: 24. 

Eternity: 16, 91, 128, 228, 286, 327, 

328, 338, 341, 403, 404, 417, 418, 419, 

429, 485, 434, 538, 553, 561, 575- 
Ether, Ethereal: 328. 
Ethics: 93, 34°, 440. 
Ethiop: 211. 

384, 415, 418, 425, 437, 561, 563- 
Etiquette: 190. 
Euphues: 193- 
Europe: 343, 535- 
Evans, Arthur: 236. 
Evasion: 553. 
Eve: 326. 

Events: 112, 128, 276, 377, 55*, 553- 
Everlasting: 227, 325, 339, 403, 522, 

532, 542. 
Evidence: 352, 384, 403, 543, 555, 572, 

574- 
Evil: 112, 208, 210, 286, 339, 342, 354, 

377, 385, 395, 396, 403, 431, 434, 468, 

523, 535, 542, 553, 560, 563- 
Evolution, 25, 277, 421, 422, 425. 
Exactness: 101, 247, 436, 446. 
Exaggeration: 201, 554, 575- 
Exalt: 383, 418, 448, 541- 
Example: 212, 283, 329, 343, 430, 554. 
Excellence: 178, 179, 192, 228, 231, 325, 

524, 536. 

Excess: 203, 204, 554, 555- 

Exclamation: 9. 

Excuse: 204, 552. 

Execute: 182, 544. 

Exeter Book: 64, 

Existence: 339, 342, 404, 418, 423, 424, 

437, 540, 542. 
Exit: 184. 



TOPICAL INDEX. 



Expectation: 252, 338, 370, 
Expedient: 128, 403, 446, 539. 
Expedition: 128. 
Experience: 112, 128, 338, 342, 401, 432, 

433, 437, 468, 538, 554. 
Expression: 1, 103, 178, 213, 227, 228, 

523- 



603 



Explain: 276, 433. 

Extremes: 554. 

Eye: 112, 113, 179, 181, 182, 184, 185, 

203, 204, 205, 207, 208, 211, 228, 230, 

299, 250, 253, 287, 288, 340, 382, 414, 

418, 419, 420, 421, 433, 436, 523, 531, 

544, 549, 554, 563, 569. 



F 



Fable: 7, 531, 

Face: 112, 165, 167, 179, 184, 206, 208, 

249, 252, 338, 369, 383, 534, 554, 574. 
Facetious, early meaning of: 52. 
Faction: 554, 555. 

Facts: 128, 344, 353, 369, 377, 401, 448, 

536, 555- 
Faculties: 228, 343, 439. 
Fade, Fading: 325, 328, 383. 
Fail: 226, 287, 342, 344, 354, 555. 
Faint, origin of: 55. 
Fair: 325, 430. 
Fairy: 211, 227, 558. 
Faith: 147, 208, 232, 284, 286, 338, 339, 

340, 344, 352, 353, 354, 355, 385, 409, 

416, 420, 429, 434, 439, 525, 535, 546, 

555, 558, 576. 
Faithful : 340, 524. 
FAITH IN LITERATURE: 145. 
Fall: 113, 128, 192, 210, 214, 230, 246, 

250, 283, 377, 382, 383, 402, 432, 485, 
523, 534, 55«- 

Fallacy: 470, 569. 

False, Falsehood: 182, 328, 338, 341, 
342, 344, 354, 385, 432, 434, 533, 539, 

554, 555- 

False Modesty: 113. 

Falstaff: 206. 

Fame: 112, 166, 288, 338, 385, 485, 535, 

555, 567, 
Familiar, 226. 

Family: 326, 339, 341, 343, 555, 558. 

Famine: 354. 

Fan: 206. 

Fanaticism: 555. 

Fancy: 226, 227, 276, 324, 536, 541, 

555. 
Fantastic: 179, 205, 287. 
Fantasy: 211. 
Fardels: 229. 
Farewell: 210. 
Farm Home: 135. 
FARMER YOUTH: 133. 
Farrar, Dean: 200, 365. 
Fashion: 180, 229, 523, 555, 559. 
Fast, altered meaning of: 53. 
Fastidious: 556. 
Fasting: 185, 227. 
Fatal: 341, 369, 433. 
Fate, 112, 215, 226, 250, 253, 289, 327, 

339, 556. 
Father: 182, 204, 207, 208, 227, 232, 

286, 340, 34i, 4i9, 522, 523, 53i, 539. 

546, 558. 
Fault: 178, 179, 192, 204, 252, 326, 377, 

403, 434, 482, 556. 
Favor: 210, 337, 434, 558. 
Fear: 112, 176, 178, 179, 182, 191, 209, 

210, 213, 226, 289, 337, 342, 343, 344, 

370, 383, 402, 430, 431, 445, 468, 485, 

538, 556, 563. 
Feast: 181, 205, 226, 287, 567, 582. 
Feature : 209, 287. 
Fee: 289. 

Feed: 184, 212, 231, 248, 353. 
Feeling: 99, 198, 205, 210, 244, 275, 323, 



369, 403, 417, 418, 425, 432, 436, 523, 
_ 524, 537, 539, 543, 55*, 556. 
Feign: 208. 
Fellowship: 205. 
Fenelon : 369. 
Ferules: 192. 

FICTION: 151, 193, 195, 201, 203, 556. 
Fidelity: ro2, 377, 432, 523, 556, 593- 
Field: 142, 162, 167, 205, 207, 231, 232, 

285, 425, 436, 536. 
Fielding's "Joseph Andrews:" 194. 
Fight, Fought: 205, 395, 425, 538. 
Fight of Maldon: 65. 
Figure of Speech: 5, 239. 
Find: 286. 

Finger: 203, 206, 211, 535, 536. 
Finneshurg, Battle of: 65. 
Finsen, Prof. : 260, 322. 
Fire: 165, 181, 205, 207, 209, 211, 212, 

227, 228, 231, 250, 253, 382, 404, 448, 

S24, 533, 538, 543, 552, 568, 576. 
Firm: 226, 434, 556. 
Firmament: 228, 287, 328. 
FIRST DECLARATION OF INDEPEN- 
DENCE: 461. 
Fish: 233, 251, 569. 
" FISICAL TORTURE:" 157. 
Flame : 286. 

Flammarion, Camille : 280. 
Flatterer: 102, 147, 385, 556. 
Flattery: 8, six, 327. 
Flaubert: 196. 
Flea: 207, 326. 

Flesh: 227, 228, 230, 395, 420, 432. 
Flinders-Petrie : 235. 
Fling: 210. 
Flint: 233. 

Floods: 166, 176, 225, 232. 
Floor: 183, 254, 568. 
Florida, Meaning of: 80. 
Florence: 191. 
Flourish : 328, 344. 
Flower, Mrs. Lucy L. : 452. 
Flower: 112, 114, 146, 162, 181, 243, 

276, 287, 337, 419, 555, 556, 557, 560, 

575, 589, 591. 
Fly: 229, 396, 534, 541- 
Foes: 8, 232, 235, 286, 404, 485, 57°. 
Fog: 569. 
Folly: 92, 128, 147, 182, 327, 329, 535, 

549, 555, 557, 578. 
Food: 165, 167, 203, 327, 354, 540, 543, 

570. 
Fool: 102, 113, 142, 147, 249, 251, 287, 

324, 327, 342, 402, 420, 428, 538, 539, 

544, 546, 554, 567. 
Foot, Feet: 180, 185, 204, 205, 245, 434, 

435- 
Footstool: 356. 
Foppery: 557. 
Forbearance: 557. 
Forbid: 228, 338, 568. 
FORCE: 86. 

Force: 285, 344, 353, 430, 448, 533, 540. 
Forefathers : 208. 



604 



BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



Forever: 185, 210, 285, 419, 5*3- 
Forget: 113, 192, 207, 417, 485, 570, 

577- 
Forgiveness: 199, 370, 377, 417, 533, 

535, 557- 
Form: 166, 204, 228, 229, 230, 540, 

557- 
Forsake: 287, 383. 
Fortitude: 557. 
Fortress: 165. 
Fortune: 162, 203, 204, 225, 228, 232, 

243. 377, 523, 524, 535, 53<5, 54i, 548, 

557, 558. 
Foster: 419. 

Foul: 227, 228, 286, 540. 
Foundation: 355, 384, 385, 431, 446. 

544, 561. 
Fountain: 185, 522, 523, 577. 
Fragrant: 247, 468. 
Frailty : 227. 
Frame: 228, 328. 
Franklin, Benjamin: 189, 214. 
Frantic: 182. 
Fraud: 557. 
Fray: 327. 
Free, Freedom: 99, 128, 249, 254, 340, 

342, 344, 352, 417, 425, 431, 446, 525, 

532, 557, 558, 575- 
Free Trade: 344. 
Freeze: 228. 



Freidus, A. S. : 238. 

Freight: 191. 

French: 161, 207. 

Frenzy: 182. 

Fresh: 206, 540. 

Fret, fretful: 228, 558. 

Friend, Friendship: 8, 101, 147, 179, 
207, 225, 227, 232, 251, 324, 325, 328, 
339, 34i, 383, 432, 485, 522, 523, 524, 
533, 540, 542, 544, 550, 552, 558, 570. 

Friend of Caesar, A: 200. 

Fright: 207, 209, 538. 

Frisian Wife: 65. 

Front: 209, 230, 231, 254. 

Frost: 184, 210, 211. 

Frown: 569. 

Frugality: 343, 558. 

Fruit: 214, 285, 342, 354, 394, 468. 

Fuel: 286. 

Fugitive: 285. 

Fun: 215, 572. 

FUNCTION OF COLLEGE EDUCA- 
TION: 131. 

Funeral: 100. 

Furnace: 184. 

Furniture: 572. 

Fury: 323, 328. 

Future: 339, 352, 403, 418, 523, 558, 
576. 



Gain: 233, 289, 537. 

Gall : 203. 

Gallantry: 558. 

Gallows: 550. 

Gamble, Wm. : 320. 

Gambling: 558. 

Garden: 254, 419, 544. 

Garland : 276. 

Garment: 204, 416, 433, 589. 

Garnish: 204. 

Garret : 247. 

Garter: 178. 

Gate: 286, 356, 416, 420, 532, 553. 

Gaudy: 227. 

Gaul: 60. 

Gayety: 558. 

Geehale, 18. 

Geer, W. Montague: 439. 

Gem: 128, 539, 574. 

Generation : 382. 

Generous: 384, 485, 542, 558, 560. 

Genius: 128, 142, 174, 193, 201, 418, 

523, 53i, 536, 55i, 552, 553, 556, 559, 

566. 
Gentility: 559. 
Gentle: 207, 229, 231, 252, 283, 328, 

396, 523, 525, 559- 
Gentleman: 231, 252, 283, 343, 559, 

566. 
Geology: 25. 
George II: 80. 
Georgia, Meaning of: 80. 
German Lutheran: 389. 
Ghost: 276. 

Giant: 179, 180, 382, 431. 
Giubons, Cardinal: 438. 
Gifts: 178, 229, 244, 341, 523, 540, 

559- 
Gilt: 210, 430. 
Girdle: 181. 
Girl: 208, 253. 
Girl, meant either sex: 49. 
Glass : 229, 433, 539- 



Glide: 211. 

Gloom, Gloomy: 191, 288, 339, 540, 544. 

Glory: 112, 177, 178, 191, 209, 210, 
244, 254, 322, 328, 341, 343, 344, 
356, 382, 402, 458, 485, 524, 561. 

Glove: 211. 

Glow-worm: 253, 254. 

Glucose: 313. 

Glutton: 287. 

Glycerin: 314. 

Goal: 99, 342, 415. 

God: 26, ii2, 113, 128, 146, 163, 163, 
167, 182, 183, 210, 228, 230, 244, 251, 
252, 254, 285, 286, 289, 324, 326 328, 
334, 336, 338, 339, 340, 341, 34*, 343, 
344, 353, 354, 355, 369, 372, 377, 384, 
386, 395, 402, 409, 415, 416, 417, 418, 
419, 421, 427, 429, 430, 432, 437, 
438, 447, 471, 523, 524, 534, 539, 540, 

541, 542, 543, 544, 550, 55*, 555, 
559, 569, 574, 576, 593- 

Goddess: 178. 

Goethe: 194, 409. 

Gold: 161, 177, 183, 204, 210, 226, 228, 
283, 286, 301, 434, 523, 532, 537, 541, 
559, 567, 582. 

Golden Rule: 405. 

Goldsmith: 194. 

Good: 91, 112, 114, 142, 164, 180, 183, 
184, 185, 192, 203, 204, 208, 212, 228, 
232, 244, 250, 252, 284, 285, 323, 329, 
336, 33», 34i, 343, 344, 353, 354, 369, 
385, 395, 402, 403, 415, 424, 430, 431, 
433, 468, 485, 523, 524, 537, 538, 540, 

542, 544, 547, 553, 559. 
Goodrick : 29b. 
Gorboduc: 203. 

Gore: 567. 

Gospel: 339, 340, 344, 349, 396, 541, 

560. 
Gossip: 552, 553, 560. 
Gossip, early meaning of: 53. 
GOT: 141. 



TOPICAL INDEX. 



605 



Goths : 59. 
Gould: 291. 
Gourd: 430. 
Govern, Government: 92, 117, 251, 324, 

337, 339. 352, 447, 536, 554, 555, 

56o, 575. 
Gown: 231. 
Grace, Gracious: 128, 164, 176, 178, 212, 

227, 230, 231, 232, 249, 284, 323, 325, 

432, 434, 468, 475, 524, 535, 536, 543, 

544, 547, 56o. 
Grammar : 208. 
Grand, Grandeur: 132, 342, 343, 418, 

522. 
Grand old men: 20. 
Grandison, Sir Charles: 194- 
Grape: 286. 
Graphite : 307. 
Grapple: 227. 
Grasp: 328, 329. 
Grass: 327. 
Gratitude: 560. 
Grave: 166, 205, 219, 247, 250, 416, 

430, 435, 56o, 575. 
Gravity: 341, 560. 
GREAT MEN, LAST WORDS OF: 475- 



Great, Greatness: 91, 142, 192, 203, 
210, 229, 231, 233, 244, 286, 323, 
329, 340, 342, 353, 355, 382, 402, 418, 
355, 356, 394, 540, 544, 548, 560. 

Greek: 323, 325, 577. 

Greeting: 209. 

Grendel: 61. 

Grief: 91, 101, 142, 180, 203, 204, 210, 
229, 233, 328, 402, 543, 561. 

Grind: 383. 

Groan: 112, 180, 568. 

Ground: 205, 229, 567. 

Grovelling: 355, 356. 

Grow, Growth: 243, 250, 285, 327, 328, 
344, 539, 540, 541, 543- 

Grudge: 182. 

Grunt: 229. 

Guard, Thos. : 172. 

Guest: 484, 561. 

Guide: 276, 344, 535. 

Guilt, Guilty: 178, 209, 283, 287, 396, 
414, 447, 556, 561, 575- 

Gulliver's Travels: 194. 

Gun : 206. 

Gypsy: 537, 578. 



H 



Hahit: 227, 276, 323, 338, 343, 344, 

431, 540, 561. 
Habitation: 182. 

Hair: 206, 219, 228, 232, 249, 561. 
Hall, Prof.: 297. 
Hall, Robt: 419. 
Hallow: 142, 227, 288. 
Hamlet: 200, 227. 
Hammer: 204, 434, 545- 
Hammurabi Code : 348. 
Hand: 100, 101, 112, 177, 203, 204, 

205, 211, 229, 230, 244, 245, 253, 

286, 326, 328, 353, 382, 403, 417, 

434, 523, 539, 553- 
Handmaid: 128. 
"Handy Andy": 202. 
Hanging : 248. 
Happy, Happiness: 179, 185, 208, 248, 

254, 323, 328, 337, 338, 340, 341, 

342, 377, 394, 396, 432, 523, 525, 
533, 538, 545, 548, 558, 561. 

Harbor: 191. 

Hare : 206. 

Harlowe, Clarissa: 194- 

Harmony: 167, 176, 181, 183, 205, 288, 

343, 352, 377, 4i9, 47i, 562. 
Harp : 382. 

Harrow : 228. 

Hart: 365. 

Harum, David: 149. 

Harvard College: 188. 

Harvest: 206, 342, 425, 543, 558. 

Haste: 561. 

Hastings : 347. 

Hastings, Lady Elizabeth: 327. 

Hate: 112, 142, 210, 285, 328, 353, 396, 

402, 432, 458, 535, 561, 575, 592. 
Haughty: 132, 245. 
Haunt: 209. 

HAVE ANIMALS SOULS: 435. 
Havoc: 225. 
Hawk : 208. 
Hawthorne: 195. 
Head: 142, 184, 207, 215, 231, 232, 

247, 254, 287, 322, 328, 341, 356, 

369, 377, 394, 403, 458, 485, 541, 

544, 546. 



Health: 338, 343, 431, 536, 540, 542, 
55i, 559, 561, 578. 

Hear: 181, 183, 226, 229, 402, 420. 

Heart: 100, 112, 142, 163, 165, 167, 
176, 177, 179, 181, 182, 183, 192, 
198, 208, 210, 225, 226, 228, 229, 
230, 231, 244, 245, 246, 249, 254, 
324, 337, 339, 341, 344, 352, 353, 
355, 356, 377, 382, 384, 385, 394, 
395, 396, 403, 4i7, 418, 425, 428, 
433, 437, 438, 484, 485, 522, 523, 
536, 538, 540, 544, S5i, 561, 566, 
581. 

"Heart of Midlothian": 202. 

Hearth: 288, 568. 

Heat: 165, 205, 254. 

Heathen: 344, 573. 

Heaven: 101, 102, 113, 128, 142, 167, 
178, 179, 181, 182, 183, 185, 204, 
210, 227, 228, 230, 232, 244, 252, 
254, 276, 285, 286, 287, 324, 325, 
326, 328, 340, 341, 343, 344, 353, 
355, 356, 403, 404, 416, 417, 418, 
419, 420, 448, 468, 523, 534, 535, 
536, 537, 538, 545, 546, 560, 561. 

Heavenly Twins: 149. 

Hedgerow: 537. 

Heber's Epiphany: 18. 

Hebrew: 237, 439. 

Hectic : 342. 

Heels: 203, 230, 328, 535, 561. 

Heir : 228, 288. 

Hell: 208, 245, 285, 328, 355, 403, 404, 
414, 561. 

Helmet: 248. 

Helmholtz: 316. 

Help: 252, 383, 421, 524, 562. 

Helter-Skelter, origin of: 55. 

Henrietta, Maria: 80. 

Henry, Patrick: 382. 

Herald: 179, 230, 326. 

Herbs: 212. 

Hercules : 230. 

Herder: 365. 

Hereafter: 328, 339, 340. 

Heredity: 422, 433, 468, 574. 

Heretic ; 369. 



6o6 



BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



Heritage: 254, 468. 

Hermagoras: 171. 

Hermit: 203. 

Herod : 229. 

Heroism, Hero: 142, 523, 561. 

Herschel: 316, 427. 

Heterodoxy: 370. 

HE WHO ASCENDS: 458. 

Hibernianism : 219. 

Hicksite Quakers : 407. 

Hidden, Hide: 192, 210, 231, 244, 286, 

288, 414, 524, 569. 
Hieroglyphics: 235. 
HIGHER CRITICISM: 345, 357- 
Hills: 167, 227, 230, 232. 
Hind: 185. 
Hint : 232, 244. 
HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF SUICIDE: 

505- 
Historic Episcopate : 372. 
Historic Novel: 195. 
History: 93, 147, 151, 181, 184, 190, 

198, 201, 232, 247, 328, 329, 340, 

353, 505, S25, 535, 538, 542, 556, 
562, 570. 

Hoard, Hoarding: 208, 540. 

Holidays: 206. 

Holy, Holiness: 205, 232, 285, 324, 328, 

354, 377, 394, 419, 522, 531, 536, 
561. 

Homage: 322. 

Home: 177, 206, 207, 244, 246, 284, 

287, 340, 396, 419, 43i, 432, 538, 

546, 562. 
Homely: 177. 

Homely, early meaning of: 52. 
Homer: 146, 150, 254, 325. 
Honest, Honesty: 205, 209, 248, 250, 

251, 254, 341, 344, 354, 355, 356, 

384, 431, 445, 469, 533, 534, 537, 

546, 562, 568. 
Honey: 287, 567. 
Honor: 184, 208, 210, 227, 253, 288, 

327, 328, 338, 34i, 353, 382, 395, 

431, 432, 447, 524, 538, 540, 551, 

562, 573, 592. 
Hood: 165. 



Hoop: 227. 

Hope: 113, 147, 179, 191, 210, 275, 

286, 326, 327, 338, 339, 340, 353. 

370, 383, 385, 4i7, 425, 437, 451, 485, 

523, 538, 542, 550, 562, 578. 
Horatio: 228, 230. 
Horizon: 431. 

Horrid, for bristling: 48, 577. 
Horror: 327. 

Horse: 206, 207, 208, 327, 551. 
Hose: 184, 209. 
Hospital: 344, 540. 
Hospitality: 343. 
Host: 178, 324. 
Hostile: 355, 418. 
Hour: 184, 225, 327, 538. 
House: 165, 183, 190, 207, 209, 228, 

231, 252, 276, 326, 344, 385, 419, 

537- 
Houston, Prof: 301. 
Hue : 204, 229. 
Hug: 572. 

Hugo, Victor: 195, 409. 
Humanity, Human: 229, 285, 338, 340, 

343, 352, 354, 355, 377, 394, 396, 

417, 421, 424, 425, 432, 433, 435, 

522, 535, 542, 536, 538, 542, 543, 

548, 55i, 56o, 562. 
Human Nature: 201, 343, 435. 
Hume: 365. 
Humility, 102, 176, 207, 210, 339, 344, 

353, 355, 356, 468, 562. 
Humility, early meaning of: 52. 
Humor: 10, 180, 194, 200, 215, 395, 

432, 555, 559- 
Hungary : 408. 

Hunger: 165, 179, 205, 225, 447, 541. 
Hunt, Prof: 316. 
Hurd, Harvey B: 452. 
Hurt: 212, 226. 
Husband: 147, 185, 523. 
Husting, derivation of: 51. 
Huxley, Prof : 422. 
Hyperbole : 9. 
Hyperion: 230. 
Hypocrisy: 102, 322, 533, 539, 562. 



Iambic: 17, 19- 

Ice: 204, 211, 229, 253, 458, 499. 

Idea, Ideality: 113, 275, 276, 341, 

344, 418, 427, 430, 446, 563- 
Ideas Different from Words: 78. 
Idiot, early meaning of: 52. 
Idle, Idleness: 92, 128, 232, 328, 432, 

468, 541, 563. 

If: l8 5- 

If I Were a Voice: 396. 

IF WE COULD ONLY KNOW: 485. 

Ignorance: 93, 112, 113, *79, 192, 275, 

343, 353, 468, 504, 525, 534, 538, 

55o, 563- 
Iliad: 297. 
Ilium: 167. 
Ill: 185, 204, 229, 250, 323, 325, 4i4» 

432, 563. 
Ill-got: 208. 

Illinois, meaning of: 80. 
Illumine: 285. 
Illusions: 128, 531, 561. 
II Penseroso: 288. 
Image: 128, 289, 537. 
Imagination: 182, 196, 201, 205, 230, 

231, 338, 426, 563, 571, 577- 



Imitate: 207, 229, 344, 531, 552, 563. 

Immense, early meaning of: 51. 

Immodest: 324. 

Immortality: 112, 147, 167, 183, 192, 
232, 285, 288, 327, 328, 340, 343, 
354, 396, 408, 418, 421, 426, 430, 435, 
436, 538, 563, 569- 

Imp, early meaning of: 52. 

Impatience: 563. 

IMPERFECT DEFINITION: 469. 

Imperfection: 563. 

Imperial Library: 188. 

Impertinence: 215. 

Impious, Impiety: 327, 339. 

Importance of Right Thinking: 426. 

Impossible: 254, 563. 

Imposture, Imposition: 190, 432. 

Imprisonment: 179. 

Improvement: 432. 

Inclination: 432. 

Income: 252. 

Incomprehensible, change in meaning: 

Inconstancy: 132, 563, 566. 
Incredulity: 564. 
Independence : 564. 



TOPICAL INDEX. 



607 



Index: 564, 594- 

Indian's lament: 18. 

Indifference: 341, 564. 

Indirection: 243. 

Indiscretion: 564. 

Individuality: 564. 

Indolence: 564. 

Industry: 339, 341, 343, 469, 550, 557, 

558, 564. 
Inexplicable : 229. 
Infamy: 112, 564. 

Infant: 184, 522, 523, 524, 564. 
Infidelity: 339, 365. 384. 385, 539, 564. 
Infinite: 128, 228, 244, 402, 418, 537, 

559, 589. 

Infirmity: 225, 431, 524, 573. 
Influence: 250, 275, 338, 341, 343, 377. 

432, 524, 565. 
Ingersoll, What He Believed: 393. 
Ingratitude: 287, 565. 
Inherit: 338, 369. 
Iniquity: 558. 
Injury: 165, 377, 4*7, 427, 432, 433, 

533, 548, 565, 570. 
Injustice: 150, 208. 
Ink: 203, 565. 
Innocent: 226, 254, 344, 421, 431, 449, 

537, 544, 552, 554, 5&*4, 574, 575- 
Inquisitiveness : 565. 
Insanity: 142, 425, 565. 
Insincerity: 565. 
Insolence: 229, 232. 
Insolvent, early meaning of: 52. 
Inspire, Inspiration: 323, 343, 369, 384, 

523, 565. 



Inspection: 342. 

Instances: 184. 

Instinct: 128, 343, 547, 566. 

Instruction: 182, 191, 192, 201, 524, 

566, 582. 
Insult: 566. 
Integrity: 343, 360, 370, 434, 552, 566, 

583. 
Intellect: 334, 338, 339, 352, 354, 385, 

394, 419, 425, 433, 468, 531, 537, 

554, 566, 571. 
Intemperance: 344, 482. 
Intention: 404, 537. 
Interest: 432, 446, 560, 566. 
Intercourse: 113. 
Intolerance: 555, 566. 
Intuition: 524. 
INVECTIVE: 481, 483. 
Invention: 329, 559, 566, 574, 576- 
Investigation: 354, 358, 420. 
Investment : 430. 
Invite : 232, 327. 
Ions: 302. 

Iowa, meaning of: 80. 
Irish : 60. 
Iron: 166, 204, 254, 275, 307, 377, 426, 

448. 
Irony: 9, 481, 482, 483, 566. 
Irresolution: 566. 
Issues: 198. 
Italy: 191. 
" Ivanhoe: " 202. 
Ives, Geo: 318. 
Ivry: 264. 
I Would Not: 243. 



Jack, Captain James: 463. 

Jacula Prudentum: 252. 

" Jane Eyre: " 195- 

Janice Meredith : 200. 

Jealous: 184, 191, 233, 324, 396, 567. 

Jejeebhoy, Sir Jamsetjee: 408. 

Jerome : 72. 

Jessamine: 287. 

Jessica: 183. 

Jest: 181, 211, 287, 567. 

Jesus : 284. 

Jewels: 147", 177, 178, 184, 211, 232, 

233, 247, 322, 534, 537, 541, 557. 

582. 
Jew: 183, 415,; 567. 
Jewish Encyclopedia : 440. 
Jingle: 20. 
Jocund: 212. 
Joke: 559. 
Jollity: 287, 559. 
Joly: 319, 524. 
Joseph Andrews: 194. 
Journey: 286, 435. 
Journeymen : 190, 229. 
Jove: 211, 230. 



Joy: 101, 128, 164, 166, 179, 208, 244, 
254, 325, 338, 339, 340, 384, 420, 
55o, 559, 560, 561, 567. 

Judaism: 415. 

Judge: 178, 251. 

Judgment: 112, 183, 198, 208, 225, 227, 
233, 353, 426, 468, 499, 541, 542, 
567- 

Judicious: 229. 

Judith : 65. 

Juliet: 211. 

Julius Caesar: 225. 

Juno : 203. 

Jupiter: 290. 

Jurisprudence: 165. 

Jury: 178, 217. 

Just, Justice: 102, 114, 128, 183, 184, 
231, 249, 253, 275, 285, 286, 322, 
326, 337, 339, 342, 343, 403, 417, 
423, 445, 446, 447, 449, 537, 538, 
542, 547, 553, 556, 557, 567, 568, 570, 

Jutes: 60, 61. 

Jutland: 61. 

JUVENILE COURT, The: 450. 

Juvisy Observatory: 280. 



Kansas, meaning of: 80. 
Karma : 422. 
Keate: 119. 
Kempf: 295. 

Kentucky, meaning of: 80. 
Kerosine: 312. 
Key: 286, 523. 

Kill, Killing: 210, 214, 289, 535, 538, 
569. 



Kidney: 178. 

Kin: 210, 396. 

Kind, Kindness: 184, 230, 329, 396, 

418, 425, 432, 524, 532, 542, 567. 
Kindred : 369. 
King: 92, 113, 147, 165, 178, 182, 183, 

205, 208, 214, 231, 244, 245, 253, 

284, 288, 324, 326, 342, 416, 500, 

561, 582. 



6o8 



BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



Kingdom: 164, 205, 209, 338, 419, 433. 

King Alfred: 64, 67, 471. 

King Arthur: '213. 

King Gorboduc: 203. 

King Henry IV: 205, 207. 

King Henry V: 207. 

King Henry VI: 208. 

King James: 251. 

King John : 204. 

King Lear: 231. 

King Richard II: 205. 

King Richard III: 209. 

Kiss: 167, 230, 243, 249, 484, 567. 

Kitchen: 254. 

Knave: 567. 

Knave, early meaning of: 53. 



Knees: 101, 18s, 248, 356, 524. 

Knell : 207. 

Knight: 161. 

Knight of Malta: 250. 

Knight-Errantry: 200. 

Knit: 226. 

Know, Knowledge: 128, 142, 167, 198, 
201, 283, 285, 340, 353, 355, 377. 
384, 417, 420, 421, 425, 429, 433, 
468 532, 539, 540, 541, 543, 567.- 

Koran: 365. 

Kossuth, Louis: 408. 

Kovacs : Prof : 408. 

Kreutzer Sonata : 200. 

Kromskop: 318. 



Labor: 101, 112, 191, 205, 226, 343, 
352, 404, 535, 540, 546, 55i, 554, 
568. 

Lahor Churches: 373. 

LABOR IS LIFE: 28, 58. 

Lackey : 287. 

LACONICS: 32, 57, 77, 91, 99, 112, 
128, 132, 142, 146, 161, 176, 177, 
190, 201, 203, 225, 247, 275, 283, 
289, 322, 336, 352, 369, 377, 382, 
384, 394, 402, 417, 429, 468, 522, 
53i, 533- 

Ladder: 339, 532. 

Lady, Ladies: 180, 181, 206, 209, 212, 
327, 544- 

Lady, origin of: 55. 

L' Allegro : 287. 

Lamb, Chas: 145. 

Lame: 209. 

Lament of Deor: 64. 

Lamp: 142, 191, 341. 

Lampoon: 482, 483. 

Landor: 149. 

Language: 8, 41, 176, 181, 523, 541, 
593- 

LANGUAGE, BEST THOUGHTS 
ABOUT: 33. 

LANGUAGE, CURIOSITIES OF: 48. 

La Place: 277. 

Lascivious : 209. 

LAST WORDS OF GREAT MEN: 475. 

Latin: 323. 

Laud: 210. 

Laugh: 112, 192, 229, 247, 287, 354, 
382, 558, 559, 568, 572. 

Law: 93, 165, 167, 205, 208, 217, 229, 
241, 285, 289, 324, 325, 339, 340, 
342, 353, 383, 433, 445, 449, 534, 
537, 542, 546, 547, 558, 568, 569. 

LAW AND LAWYERS: 445- 

LAWYER'S ENGLISH: 472. 

Lead: 301, 431, 434. 

Lean: 283, 432. 

Leap: 164, 539. 

Learn, Learning: 112, 114, 128, 162, 
181, 190, 192, 251, 338, 340, 342, 425, 
434, 470, 536, 543, 544, 568. 

Leaves: 210, 245, 246, 354, 383, 537, 
589. 

Le Fevre's Recuell de Troye: 189. 

Legion: 382. 

Legs: 207. 

Leigh ton: 419. 

Leisure: 112, 191, 328, 568. 

Lend: 178, 541. 

Length: 176. 

Lenity: 568. 



Lesson: 147, 244, 468, 524, 582. 
LET SOMETHING GOOD BE SAID: 

485- 

Letter: 112, 568. 

Leviathan: 251. 

Levity: 537. 

Liberality: 112, 568. 

Libertine : 227. 

Liberty: 92, 113, 254, 288, 327, 434, 
449, 536, 552, 558, 568. 

Libra : 290. 

LIBRARIES: 186, 190, 191, 544, 568, 
57o. 

License: 113, 288. 

Lick Observatory: 298, 300. 

Lie, Liar, 142, 177, 206, 215, 228, 
248, 252, 383, 449, 539, 542, 547, 
568. 

Liege: 180. 

Life: 99, 101, 112, 147, 178, 179, 183, 
184, 190, 203, 204, 219, 225, 226, 
229, 232, 243, 244, 246, 247, 249, 
252, 276, 284, 285, 324, 337, 338, 
340, 341, 342, 343, 352, 353, 354, 
377, 385, 394, 395, 403, 416, 417, 
418, 419, 422, 430, 431, 432, 434, 
435, 468, 522, 523, 524, 532, 533, 
534, 535, 536, 538, 540, 541, 543v 
568, 569. 

LIFE AND GROWTH OF LANGUAGE: 
42. 

Light: 112, 165, 190, 204, 211, 252, 
254, 280, 282, .285, 286, 288, 290, 
291, 315, 321, 339, 34i, 343, 353, 
355, 394, 396, 468, 534, 538, 540, 
562, 569. 

Lightfoot: 365. 

LIGHT FROM THE STARS: 290. 

Lighthouse: 192, 341. 

Lily : 204. 

Lily, John: 193. 

Lime: 313. 

Limit: 211, 354. 

Lincoln, A: 457. 

LINCOLN: 459- 
Line: 226. 

Lion: 181, 185, 204, 206, 207, 210, 

439, 541- 
Lippman: 318. 
Lips: 167, 182, 207, 209, 245, 250, 253, 

484, 567. 
Liquors: 184. 
Listen: 228, 324. 
LITERARY ASPECTS OF TODAY: 

148. 
Literary Form: 361. 
Literary Values: 150. 



TOPICAL INDEX. 



609 



Literature: 190, 201, 536, 537, 538, 
556, 568, 569. 575- 

LITERATURE, FAITH IN: 145. 

LITERATURE, OLDEST: 84. 

Little Things : 569. 

Load: 180. 

Loadstone: 377. 

Loaf: 2ii. 

Loathe: 206. 

Lodge, Prof: 301. 

Logic: 4, 243, 247, 401, 552, 569. 

Loiterer: 180. 

Look, Looks: 2, 164, 181, 185, 204, 
225, 228, 230, 230, 249, 287, 288, 
338, 342, 343. 352, 396, 416, 484, 
523. 539, 54i, 543, 569- 

Looking Backward: 200. 

Looking-Glass : 209, 229. 

Loom: 426, 428, 524. 

Loose, altered meaning of: 53. 

LOOSE AND PERIODIC SENTENCES: 
143- 

Lord: 326, 536. 

Lord's Supper: 371. 

Lose: 178, 207, 251, 289, 327, 338, 
354, 524, 537, 542. 

" Lothair: " 202. 

Lotus: 425. 

Louis XVI: 80, 132. 

Louisiana, meaning of: 80. 

Love: 8, 100, 101, 102, 142, 156, 166, 
167, 177, 179, 180, 181, 182, 185, 
199, 203, 209, 211, 212, 228, 229, 
232, 233, 241, 243, 244, 248, 250, 



253, 254, 275, 284, 285, 323, 325, 
327, 328, 329, 337, 339, 340, 342, 
343, 344, 353, 356, 377, 382, 384, 
394, 402, 405, 414, 417, 418, 419, 
425, 434, 437, 469, 484, 485, 522, 
523, 524, 525, 533, 534, 537, 540, 
541, 542, 553, 554, 559, 561, 567, 
569, 570, 575, 59i, 593- 

Love's Lahor Lost: 180. 

Love Me Little, Love Me Long: 253. 

Lover: 182, 184, 191, 212, 248, 251, 
323> 329, 559- 

Lowell: 300. 

Lowell Observatory: 300. 

Lower Criticism: 358. 

Low German: 59. 

Lowly: 210, 248, 355, 356. 

Lowth, Bishop: 365. 

Lucifer: 210. 

Luck: 178, 550, 569. 

Lumber: 577. 

Luminary: 192. 

Lunatic: 182. 

Lust, Lusty: 184, 323. 

Luster: 355. 

Lute: 209, 287. 

Luthardt: 365. 

Lutheran : 389. 

Luxury: 190, 344, 385, 531, 543, 569. 

Lycidas : 287. 

Lying: 229, 569. 

Lyra : 290. 

Lytton, Lord: 213. 



M 



Macbeth: 88, 225, 226. 

Macdonald, Geo: 408. 

Mad, Madness: 228, 249, 323, 538, 552, 
561. 

Madonna: 523. 

Maeterlinck : 238. 

Magnanimity: 570, 579. 

Magnetism: 377. 

Maid: 204, 227, 243, 567, 570. 

Maine, meaning of: 80. 

Majesty: 182, 209, 228, 243, 523. 

Malcontent: 180. 

Maldon ; Battle of: 65. 

Malice: 233, 395, 552, 570, 588. 

Mammals : 24. 

Mammon: 113. 

Man: 28, 93, 94, 100, 112, 113, 128, 
142, 163, 166, 177, 179, 182, 183, 
192, 199, 204, 210, 213, 225, 226, 
228, 230, 232, 244, 245, 247, 248, 
249, 250, 254, 286, 289, 322, 324, 
325, 328, 329, 337, 338, 339, 341, 
343, 352, 355, 382, 383, 402, 417, 
421, 427, 431, 433, 434, 468, 522, 
523, 524, 525, 537, 539, 540, 542, 562, 
570, 582. 

Mandeville, Sir John: 68. 

Manhood: 94, 205, 538. 

Mankind: 93, 132, 324, 327, 334, 341, 
395, 425, 445, 458, 541, 542. 

Manna: 574. 

Manners: 210, 227, 539, 559, 570. 

Mantle: 165, 227, 231, 541. 

Manx: 60. 

Marble: 101, 165, 254. 

" Marble Faun: " 195. 

Mariner: 341. 

March: 161, 203, 207, 209. 

Marionites: 351. 



Marivaux's Marianne: 194. 

Mark Antony: 187, 325. 

Marquis of Montrose: 289. 

Marriage: 146, 180, 216, 231, 233, 343, 

288, 328, 534, 569, 570. 
Mars: 230, 296. 
Marshall: 172, 178. 
Martyrs: 91, 210, 340, 537. 
Martyrs of Science: 253. 
Mary : 284. 

Maryland, meaning of: 80. 
Mason, Geo: 81. 
Massachusetts, meaning of: 80. 
Master: 102, 112, 113, 142, 180, 192, 

231, 243, 324, 540, 571. 
Mated: 185. 
Mathematics: 247. 
Matron: 576. 

Matter: 328, 471, 543, 589. 
Maupassant, de: 196. 
Maxims: 114, 326, 327, 535, 570, 582. 
Maxwell, James Clerk: 316. 
May: 162, 245, 246. 
MAYFLOWER, THE: 465. 
McDonough-Joly : 319. 
McFaul: Bishop: 438. 
Meadows: 181, 589. 
Meanness: 147, 545. 
Means: J83, 204, 326, 542, 570. 
Measure: 20*9, 249, 328, 341, 538, 578. 
Meat: 163, 165, 250, 542. 
MECKLENBURG DECLARATION: 461. 
Medicine: 92, 147, 179, 233, 400, 403, 

570, 592. 
MEDIOCRITY, BEST THOUGHTS ON: 

132. 
Meditation: 570. 
Meekness: 147, 283, 570. 
Melancholy: 203, 571. 



6io 



BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



Melody: 161. 

Melt: 227, 323. 

Memory: 5, 176, 177, 180, 190, 192, 
226, 247, 288, 422, 426, 431, 546, 
557, 560, 571, 588. 

Men: 100, 102, 112, 142, 176, 179, 
180, 184, 185, 190, 204, 205, 225, 
233, 251, 283, 285, 286, 324, 327, 
328, 336, 341, 342, 343, 355, 356, 
370, 383. 396, 403. 418, 430, 431, 
432, 433, 475, 482, 524, 536, 537, 
54i, 57i- 

Mend: 433. 

Mendelssohn: 238. 

Menial, early meaning of: 52. 

Mercantile Library: 189. 

Merchandise: 147, 191. 

Merchant of Venice: 182. 

Mercury: 206, 230. 

Mercy: 113, 166, 178, 182, 183, 210, 
211, 343, 344, 403, 417, 419, 433, 
446, 554, 568, 571. 

Meridian of Photometer: 293. 

Merit: 132, 229, 355, 425, 432, 433, 
542, 571, 572- 

Merry: 179, 208, 209, 248. 

Merry Wives of Windsor: 178. 

Messenger, Message: 112, 192, 537, 541. 

Metaphor: 7. 

Metaphysics: 323, 571. 

Metempsychosis: 192. 

Meteor: 192. 

Method: 113, 228, 250, 571. 

METHOD OF THE HIGHER CRITI- 
CISM: 357- 

Methodists: 379, 390. 

Metonymy: 9. 

Mettle: 329. 

Michigan, meaning of: 81. 

Mickle: 212. 

2»Iicroscope : 468. 

Midnight: 191, 571. 

Midsummer Night's Dream: 181. 

Midwife: 211. 

Mighty: 182, 325, 382, 396, 541, 585. 

Milk: 212, 312. 

Milky Way: 252. 

Milan : 298. 

Mill: 211. 

Milliner: 206. 

Mills: 101. 

Milo: 241. 

Mind: 79, 100, 101, 112, 113, 132, 142, 
163, 164, 165, 181, 191, 198, 201, 
209, 226, 227, 228, 233, 241, 247, 
254, 276, 286, 323, 328, 338, 340, 
343, 403, 418, 426, 468, 471, 484, 
523, 535, 536, 539, 543, 544, 546, 
550, 55i, 57i, 572, 582, 589. 

MIND, BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT: 

79- 
Minion, early meaning of: 53. 
Minister: 113, 226, 524, 572. 
Minnesota, meaning of: 81. 
Miracle: 113, 349, 524, 534, 572. 
Mirror: 209, 229, 537, 545. 
Mirth: 338, 572. 
Misanthrope: 93, 572. 
Mischief: 328, 558, 572. 
Miser: 572. 
Misery: 101, 113, 166, 177, *79, 225, 

383, 415, 421, 432, 558, 567, 572, 

592. 
Misfortune: 113, 162, 329, 539, 572. 
Missionary: 541. 
Missouri, meaning of: 81. 



Mississippi, meaning of: 81. 
Mistake: 338, 341, 355, 394, 402, 435, 

572. 
Mob: 113, 572. 
Mock: «25, 593. 
Model: 205, 540. 
Moderation: 250, 572. 
Modern: 184, 191. 
MODERN ALCHEMY: 301. 
Modesty: 113, 128, 147, 207, 229, 254, 

525, 572, 576. 
Modification of Species by Radium: 

273- 
Moissan, Prof: 307. 
Molasses: 313. 

Molecular Disintegration: 304. 
Molluscs: 24. 
Molten lava: 24, 27. 
Moment: 142, 229, 232, 402. 
Monarch: 182, 541. 
/ Money: 102, 113, 192, 199, 251, 54s, 

569, 573- 
Monk: 163. 
Monopoly : 344. 
Montana, meaning of: 81. 
Mouth: 163, 184, 204, 208, 232, 560, 

569- 
Monument: 190, 203, 209, 573. 
Montanari : 290. 
Moon: 102, 212, 225, 231, 286, 543, 

563, 578. 
Moonlight: 102, 183. 
Moons of Mars: 297. 
Moral, Morality: 10 1, 112, 180, 247, 

338, 339, 34i, 342, 344, 353, 404, 

424, 432, 433, 434, 439, 445, 448, 

537, 54i, 55i, 568, 571, 574- 
Morning: 166, 184, 227, 286, 287, 396, 

414, 484, 573- 
Mortal, Mortality: 204, 229, 323, 325, 

327, 416, 430. 
MORTGAGE 1,800 YEARS OLD: 474. 
Moses: 284, 348, 440. 
Moss: 163. 
Mother: 182, 329, 353, 355, 437, 521, 

522, 523, 524, 531, 550, 562, 574, 

MOTHERS AND MOTHERHOOD: 521. 

Motion: 183. 

Motive: 403, 425, 426, 434, 468, 573. 

Mould: 229, 286, 534. 

Mount: 204, 209, 532, 534, 541. 

Mountain: 167, 212, 276, 299, 434, 436, 

458, 539- 
Mountebank, origin of: 54. 
Mourn: 326. 

Move: 228, 232, 394, 434- 
Movement Cityward: 134- 
Mozart : 424. 

"Mr. Midshipman Easy:" 202. 
Much Ado About Nothing: 179. 
Multitude: 181, 377, 536- 
Muller: 295. 
Mummies : 147. 
Murat: 215. 

Murder: 226, 449, 538, 573. 
Music: 132, 177, 183, 193, 203, 252, 

287, 288, 328, 419, 424, 573, 574- 
Musidora: 14. 
Mutability: 573- 
My African Farm: 200. 
My Country, 'Tis of Thee: 99. 
Mystery: 229, 243, 285, 322, 334, 353, 

385, 4i9, 570, 573, 580. 
Mystery, derivation of: 49, 52. 
Mythology: 344, 573- 



TOPICAL INDEX. 



611 



N 



Nails: 208, 433. 

Naked: 205, 208, 209, 231, 458. 

Name: 182, 205, 211, 229, 232, 247, 
252, 287, 323, 382, 418, 430, 431, 
432, 433, 434, 533, 534, 538, 574. 

NAME OF GOD IN 48 LANGUAGES: 
442. 

NAMES OF THE STATES: 80. 

Napoleon: 424, 566. 

Nations: 92, 113, 114, 323, 325, 338, 
339, 383, 396, 421, 431, 432, 446, 
447, 468, 525, 537, 570. 

Nativity: 178, 227. 

Narrative: 201. 

Nash, T. : 194. 

Nassau: 326. 

Naturalist: 326. 

Naturalist, early meaning of: 50. 

Nature: 178, 179, 203, 207, 209, 210, 
211, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 247, 
252, 254, 289, 322, 324, 325, 328, 
329, 341, 343, 344, 356, 384, 404, 
416, 418, 434, 435, 524, 53i, 536, 
538, 542, 543, 552, 557, 559, 569, 574- 

NATURE AND METHOD OF THE 
HIGHER CRITICISM: 357- 

Nazarene: 199- 

Neander: 365. 

Nearer My God to Thee: 100. 

Nebraska, meaning of: 81. 

Nebular Theory: 277. 

Necessity: 102, 162, 191, 324, 329, 337, 
354, 394, 417, 53i, 542, 548, 562, 
574, 575- 

Nectar: 177, 287. 

Needle: 205, 431. 

Needy: 179, 

Neglect: 249, 339, 403. 421, 552, 574. 

Negotiate: 179. 

Neighbor: 323, 394, 562. 

Neptune: 211. 

Nerves: 244, 437. 

Nettle: 329. 

Neutrality: 574- 

Nevada, meaning of: 81. 



NEW BIBLICAL CRITICISM: 345. 
New Hampshire, meaning of: 81. 
New Jersey, meaning of: 81. 
New Jerusalem, Church of the: 391. 

New York, meaning of: 81. 

News: 574. 

NEWSPAPERS: 489, 494, 574- 

Newton, Sir Isaac: 329, 369. 

Niccoli, Nicholas: 187. 

Nicene Creed: 371, 

Nichols, Prof: 290. 

Nickname: 574. 

Nietzsche: 238. 

Niepce: 315, 316. 

Night: 145, 177, 183, 211, 212, 227, 
231, 288, 430, 484, 563, 574. 

Nightingale: 177. 

Night Piece to Julia: 253. 

Nile: 99, 233. 

Nilosyrtis : 300. 

Niobe: 227. 

Nitric Acid: 305. 

Nobility: 128, 211, 326, 354, 468, 544, 
574- 

Noble, Nobleness: 100, 102, 210, 228, 
230, 231, 326, 329, 339, 342, 352, 
355, 356, 369, 384, 385, 4i5, 430, 
43i, 525, 532, 536, 539. 572, 574- 

Noise: 574. 

Nonsense: 574. 

Norman Conquest: 67. 

North Carolina, meaning of: 81. 

Nose: 184, 206, 207, 211, 216, 561. 

Nosegay: 114. 

Notion: 276, 544. 

Nourish: 180, 181, 226. 

Nova of Perseus: 279, 280. 

Novels: 151, 574. 

Nude Figures: 15. 

Numbers: 178, 544. 

Nunnery : 229. 

Nurse: 146, 184, 207, 355, 540, 562, 
570. 

Nymph: 209, 287. 



Oak: 100, 208, 328. 

Oath: 184, 575- 

Obey, Obedience: 102, 243, 285, 329, 

343, 344, 354, 446, 536, 542, 575. 
Obligation: 575. 
Oblivion: 184, 226, 575. 
Obscure: 205, 432, 575, 590. 
Observatory: 277, 280, 298. 
Observe, Observance: 208, 227, 229, 

237, 253, 326, 524, 535, 542, 590. 
Obstinacy: 575- 
Occasion: 180, 204, 208. 
Occupation: 575. 
Ocean: 209, 245, 288, 325, 328, 340, 

403, 421, 435, 458, 539- 
Odd Effects of Radium: 268. 
Odors: 191, 203, 247, 419. 
Offense: 191, 207, 208, 229, 231, 338, 

403, 575- 
Office: 179, 180, 207, 229, 575. 
Officer: 209. 

Officious, early meaning of: 52. 
Offspring: 285, 329, 538. 
Ohio, meaning of: 81. 



OLD BUT GOOD: 404. 

" Old Curiosity Shop: " 202. 

OLDEST LITERATURE: 84. 

O'Malley, Chas: 202. 

Omar, Caliph: 187. 

Omnipotence: 572. 

Omniscient : 582. 

ONWARD AND UPWARD: 532. 

Opinion: 128, 142, 191, 226, 327, 336, 

353, 394, 415, 430, 431, 432, 468, 

542, 552, 572, 576. 
Opium: 92. 
Opportunity: 342, 344, 432, 450, 500, 

533, 535, 576. 
Oppose: 227, 228, 340, 353, 432, 539, 

576. 
Oppression: 92, 229, 340, 566, 576. 
Optimist: 93. 
Oracle: 182, 543. 
Orator, Oratory: 168, 174, 176, 225, 

426, 539, 576. 
ORATORY, SOUL POWER IN: 168. 
Orb: 183. 
Order: 226, 339, 353, 434, 543 , 576. 



6l2 



BEST THOUGHTS OF B^ST THINKERS. 



Oregon, meaning of: 81. 

Orient: 573. 

Origin, Original: 114, 275, 328, 342, 

425, 576. 
ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE 

ENGLISH LANGUAGE: 59. 
ORIGIN OF STATE NAMES: 80. 
Ornament: 147, 190, 534, 537, 539, 544, 

561, 572, 576. 
Orphan: 250. 
Orpheus : 288. 
Orthodox: 323, 370, 436. 



Othello: 231. 

OUR FARMER YOUTH AND THE 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS: 133. 
OUR OWN: 484- 
OUR RAILROADS: 81. 
Outrage: 228, 327, 546. 
Overcome: 285. 
Oversoul: 425. 
Owes: 185. 
Oxford: 188, 471. 
Oxygen: 305. 
Oyster: 178. 






Paganism: 336. 

Pain: 211, 226, 284, 329, 5^3. 543, 576. 

Paine, Thomas: 365. 

Pains: 232, 414, 484, 523, 551. 

Painting, Painters: 132, 147, 181, 200, 

204, 244, 325, 359, 430, 531, 533, 

542. 
Palace: 286, 356, 432. 
Pamela (Richardson? : 194. 
Pang: 179, 210, 229, 524. 
Panic: 577. 
Pantaloon: 184. 
Paper: 180, 192, 208. 
Parable : 7. 
Paradise: 146, 179, 285, 339, 403, 419, 

55i- 
Paradise, early meaning of: 52. 
Paradise Lost : 285. 
Paradox: 385. 
Paraffin: 312. 
Parallax : 278. 

Paramour, early meaning of: 53. 
Pard: 184. 
Pardon: 577. 

Parent: 326, 369, 536, 552, 577. 
Parmaceti: 206. 
Parr, Dr.: 370. 
Parsee: 408. 

Parson, early meaning of: 53. 
Parting: 212, 577. 
Parts: 184, 204. 
Party: 577. 
Pascal: 369. 
Passion: 28, 29, 166, 176, 199, 229, 

323, 324, 339, 352, 394, 395, 432, 

499, 53i, 533, 534, 543, 577- 
Past: 403, 418, 535, 577- 
Paste: 205. 

Pasteur Institute : 272. 
Pastor: 227. 
Path: 227, 245, 250, 286, 416, 425, 537, 

549- 
Pathos: 194, 578. 
Patience: 101, 180, 181, 203, 232, 432, 

577- 
Patient: 147, 180, 226, 229, 252, 283, 

323, 545, 569- 
Patriotism: 328, 338, 340, 577. 
Pattern: 341, 343. 
Paul: 349, 441. 
Pause: 229. 
Pay, Paid: 183, 233, 248, 252, 322, 

327, 395, 539, 542, 549- 
Pay son: 419. 
Peace: 207, 209, 210, 231, 288, 339, 

354, 382, 396, 402, 425, 484, 537, 
540, 562, 570. 

Peacemaker: 185. 

Peace of Wedmore: 67. 

Pearl: 177, 216, 247, 250, 253, 323, 

355, 4i7, 53i, 550. 



PECULIAR FIGURES OF SPEECH: 

239- 
Pedantry: 577. 
Pedigree: 535. 
Pegasus: 207. 
Peisistratos : 187. 

Pen: 180, 182, 203, 207, 276, 383, 487. 
Penalty: 403. 
Pencil: 353, 531. 
Penetrate : 230. 
Penn, Admiral: 81. 
Penn. William: 81, 407. 
Pennsylvania, meaning of: 81. 
Penrose's Pictorial Annual: 320. 
Pentateuch: 348. 
Penury: 179, 541. 
People: 142, 180, 226, 288, 339, 342, 

446, 538, 540, 541, 560, 574, 575- 
Perch : 209. 
Perfect, Perfection: 249, 340, 341, 343, 

344, 431, 524, 539, 543, 577- 
Perfidy: 543, 551. 
Performance: 113. 
Perfume: 112, 204, 206. 
Pericles: 233. 

Peril: 166, 211, 226, 340, 524. 
Period: 276. 
Periodic Sentences: 143. 
Perish: 327, 430. 
Periwig : 229. 
Pergamos: 187. 
Persecution: 578. 
Perseus: 279. 
Persevere: 578. 
Personification : 9. 
Persuade: 396. 
Pestilent, Pestilence: 228. 
Pettifoggers: 93. 
Phalaris: 363, 364. 
Pharaoh: 187. 

Philadelphia Library Co.: 189. 
Philanthropy: 216, 578. 
Philosopher: 161, 180, 369, 426, 447, 

544- 
Philosophy: 212, 228, 247, 287, 329, 

340, 352, 394, 434, 540, 582. 
PHILOSOPHY, BEST THOUGHTS ON: 

PHILOSOPHY OF EXPRESSION: 1. 

Phobos: 297. 

Phosphorus: 314. 

PHOTOGRAPHY, COLOR: 315. 

Photometry, Stellar: 291. 

Photometric Zones: 294. 

Phrase: 231. 

Physic: 226, 431, 578. 

Physical Culture: 157. 

Physician: 147, 403, 449, 548, 552, 554, 

561. 
Physiology: 93, 538. 
Pia Mater: 180. 



TOPICAL INDEX. 



613 



Picture: 239. 244, 329. 353. 426, 433. 

Pickwick Papers: 202. 

Pilgrim, Pilgrimage: 161, 567- 

Pilgrim's Progress: 360. 

Pillow: 233. 

Pinch: 179. 

Pine: 203. 

Pious, Piety: 228, 341, 343. 4*9. 447. 

524. 
Pitch-blende : 264. 
Pith: 229. 
Pity: 101, 184, 206, 228, 231, 232, 250, 

323, 32s. 327, 403. 4H. S4i, 578. 
Place: 578. 
Plagiarist: 578. 
Plague: 113, 206, 231, 576. 
Plan: 112. 

PLANET MARS: 296. 
Planets: 227, 435. 
Plants: 212, 543. 
Platinum: 301. 
Plato: 327, 364, 440. 
Play, Players: 182, 184, 203, 206, 326, 

433, 54i. 
Plea: 183, 414. 
Please, Pleasure: 113, 166, 167, 179, 

191, 231, 243, 247, 323, 328, 338, 

395, 418, 420, 432, 434, 536, 537, 

538, 542, 554, 576, 578. 
Pledge: 249. 
Pluck : 226, 229. 
Plummet: 177. 
Pluto : 288. 
Pocket: 325. 
Poetic Prose: 22. 
Poetical Essence: 19. 
Poetry, Poem: 37, 243, 251, 352, 354, 

426, 433, 524, 562. 
Poets: 132, 182, 208, 247, 249, 284, 

423, 531, 546. 
Pogson's Ratio: 291. 
Point: 276, 431. 
Poison: 250, 286, 539, 570, 577. 
Poitevin: 316. 
Pole : 328. 

Policy: 342, 439, 551, 562, 578. 
Polite, early meaning of: 50. 
Politeness: 578. 
Politics, Politician: 200, 230, 327, 338, 

340, 384, 385, 551, 579. 
Polk, Thomas: 461. 
Poltroon, origin of: 56. 
Polychrome Bible: 347. 
Pomp: 210, 288. 
Pond, Pool: 182, 231. 
Ponce de Leon: 80. 
Poor: 100, 101, 128, 190, 210, 225, 

229, 231, 233, 325, 340, 343, 383, 384, 

403, 421, 437, 540, 542. 
Pope: 378. 

Pope Nicholas V: 188. 
Pope's Bull: 73. 
Popular : 344. 
Porcupine : 228. 
Porphyry: 365. 
Possession: 180, 191, 342, 430, 432, 

433, 523, 54i, 546, 561. 
Positive: 579. 
Possibilities: 178, 342. 
Posterity : 430. 
Potash: 314. 
Pottery: 236. 
Power: 9, 101, 142, 167, 176, 182, 211, 

227, 338, 339, 340, 341, 343, 385, 

425, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 447. 

$22, 523, 532, 535, 536, 544, 559. 



Poverty: 112, 132, 543, 579. 

Practice: 353, 369, 394, 4*7, 432, 537. 

542, 547, 573- 
Prague: 203. 
Praise: 24, 284, 286, 324, 328, 356, 

396, 415, 419, 427, 43i, 533, 540, 

SSi- 
Pray, Prayer: 183, 215, 248, 326, 342, 

344, 409, 417, 556, 568. 
Preach, Preacher: 252, 324, 449, 500, 

579- 
Precept: 343, 416, 554, 579- 
Precious: 284, 434. 
Preface: 579. 
Preference: 191. 
Prejudice: 113, 542, 579- 
Prepare, Preparation: 113, 343. 
Presage: 192, 418. 
Presbyterian: 380, 391. 
Presence: 227, 232, 416, 522. 
Present: 91, 352, 385, 418, 535, 579- 
Preserve: 341, 550, 560. 
Press: 580. 
Presseuse: 365. 
Presumption: 533. 
Pretense, Pretension: 243, 328, 344, 539, 

580. 
Prevent: 403, 420, 547, 580. 
Prevent, early meaning of: 49. 
Prey : 209. 
Priam: 537- 
Price : 328. 
Pride: 92, 113, 147, *79, 204, 210, 214, 

229, 233, 246, 339, 344, 355, 35^, 

395, 425, 525, 539, 540, 572, 580. 
Priesthood : 537. 
Prime: 166. 
Primeval Forest: 24. 
Primitive Creed: 371. 
Primitive Life: 371. 
Primitive Sacraments: 391. 
Primrose: 227, 287. 
Prince: 185, 210, 231, 252, 356, 383. 
Principle: 338, 340, 344, 353, 369, 404, 

426, 429, 445, 450, 482, 525, 534. 

542, 543, 550, 573, 574, 580. 
Print, Printing: 191, 208. 
Prior, Matthew: 326. 
Prison, Prisoner: 178, 228, 254, 383, 

538. 
Privilege: 339, 536. 
Prize: 114, 180, 532. 
Probability: 353. 
Proclaim: 227,__328. 
Procrastination: 91, 580. 
Prodigal: 572, 580. 
Profanity: 580. 
Profession: 243, 338, 355. 370, 542, 

545- 
Profound: 352, 385. 
Progress: 113, 243, 344, 352, 543, 558, 

580. 
Progressive Friends : 407. 
Prologue, Mandeville's : 69. 
Promise: 101, 113, 354, 4*8, 580. 
Promontory : 228. 
Promptness : 580. 
Pronouns: 105, 213. 

Proportion: 209, 249, 385, 431, 433- 
Propagate: 341. 
Property: 342, 343- 
Prophet: 243, 284, 430, 500, 562. 
Propose: 163. 
Propriety of Diction: 141. 
Prosperity, Prosper: 113, 162, i8x, 248, 

338, 553, 58i. 



614 



BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



Protestant Episcopal: 379. 

Prove: 229, 233, 355, 432, 433. 485, 

523, 534, 536. 
Proverbs: 114, 128, 180, 323, 382, 570, 

581. 
Providence: 142, 230, 285, 324, 369, 419, 

535, 556, 562, 581. 
Provoke: 183. 

Prudence: 542, 545, 580, 582. 
Ptolemy: 298. 

Public: 114, 327, 338, 356, 431, 581. 
PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND RELIGION: 

438. 
Public Speakers: 168. 
Publish: 323, 396, 537- 
Pulpit: 574. 



Pulse: 554. 

Punishment: 114, 179, 285, 340, 395, 
403, 538, 550. 

Puns: 12, 219, 325. 

Puppyism: 394. 

Purge : 228. 

Purity, Pure: 147, 229, 243, 244, 325, 
327, 340, 341, 343, 352, 354, 394, 425, 
430, 432, 434, 531, 540, 553, 559- 

Purpose: 115, 182, 276, 447, 534, 545, 

550, 552. 

Purse: 227, 232. 

Pursuit: 114, 215, 224, 551, 552. 

Puzzle: 229, 353- 

Pyramids: 147, 288, 575. 



Qoheleth Mussar: 238. 

Quackery: 92, 147, 581. 

Quaint : 287. 

Quaker: 378, 407. 

Quality: 433, 434, 523, 525, 546. 

Quandary, origin of: 55. 

Quarrel: 184, 208, 227, 554, 581. 

Quarries: 232, 253. 

Queen Mab: 211. 

Quench : 209. 



Question: 228, 232, 244, 352, 354, 394, 

432, 579- 
Quick, 184, 214, 252, 524. 
Quiet: 251, 254, 288, 538, 543. 
Quietus : 229. 
Quillets : 208. 
Quills: 228. 
Quips: 180, 287. 

Quot Homines Tot Sententiae: no. 
Quotation: 114, 128, 581. 



RACE PROBLEM, THE: 502. 

Race: ioi, 421, 435, 502, 535, 540, 568. 

Racine: 369. 

Radcliffe, Mrs.: 194. 

RADIUM, WONDERS OF: 257. 

Rage: 142, 283, 328, 538, 582. 

Rags: 229, 231, 323. 

Railery: 483, 582. 

Rain: 100, 182, 582, 591. 

Rainbow: 204, 416, 582. 

Random: 191. 

Rank: 582. 

Rapture: 114. 

Rare: 243, 355, 433, 524, 539, 541, 55©, 
570. 

Rascal: 539. 

Rascal, early meaning of: 50. 

Rash : 582. 

Rational : 369. 

Rats: 113. 

Raven: 184. 

Ravish : 286. 

Raze : 226. 

Read: 181, 247, 253, 323, 325, 536, 537, 
538, 582. 

Realistic Movement: 196. 

Realm : 208. 

Reap: 206. 

Reason: 112, 113, 128, 142, 165, 177, 
185, 206, 225, 228, 230, 248, 289, 
324, 325, 327, 334, 338, 339, 340, 343, 
344, 352, 353, 356, 369, 386, 395, 397, 
418, 426, 445, 524, 536, 55i, 558, 57i, 
583. 

Rebirth: 423. 

Reckless: 227, 244, 404, 558. 

Recommendation : .112. 

Recompense: 583. 

Recreation: 251, 583. 

Rectitude: 583. 

Redemption: 232. 

Refinement: 338, 343, 352, 547, 583. 

Reflection: 355, 385, 395, 524, 559, 583. 



Reform: 522, 583. 

Refuge: 344. 

Regard: 229, 546. 

Regeneration, early meaning of: 52. 

Regent: 180. 

Reincarnation : 422. 

Reject: 339. 

Rejoice: 396, 524. 

Relics: 190, 288. 

Religion: 101, 200, 247, 333, 336, 337, 

338, 339, 340, 34i, 342, 343, 344, 384, 

385, 421, 424, 433, 437, 445, 538, 540, 

543, 573, 579, 583, 584. 
Remedy: 185, 535, 539- 
Remembrance, Remember: 113, 185, 

204, 207, 251, 253, 369, 434, 573. 
Reminiscences: 575. 
Remorse: 431, 537, 584. 
Rent: 252, 433. 
Repartee : 584. 

Repent: 434, 468, 523, 584. 
REPLY TO A WOMAN'S QUESTION, 

245- 
Report: 286. 

Repose: 165, 342, 352, 542, 561, 584- 
Repositories: 192. 
Reproach: 433, 537. 
Reproof: 584. 
Reptile: 575. 
Republic: 339, 584. 
Reputation: 132, 184, 232, 326, 429, 

430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 472, 523, 
Resemblance: 177, 283. 
Resent: early meaning of: 53. 
Reserve: 227, 584. 
Resignation : 584. 
Resist, Resistance: 340. 
Resolve, Resolution: 212, 227, 229. 
Respect: 229, 341, 370, 432, 551. 
Responsibility: 584. 
Rest: 226, 288, 354, 418, 535, 574, 584, 
Restrain: 343. 
Result: 377, 538. 



TOPICAL INDEX. 



615 



Resurrection: 146, 219. 
Retaliate, early meaning of: 
Retribution: 584, 585. 
Return: 229, 230, 285. 
Revelation: 93, 244, 333, 342, 
Revenge: 285, 395, 417, 535, 
Reverence: 225, 231, 343, 356, 
Reverie: 585. 
Revolt: 212. 
Revolution: 113, 585. 
Reward: 142, 328, 353, 458, 

573- 
Rhetoric: 113, 247, 572. 
Rheum: 204. 
Rhine: 59. 

Rhode Island, meaning of: I 
Ribs: 287. 
Rich, Riches: 112, 177, 190, 

227, 229, 233, 283, 289, 340, 

356, 382, 426, 430, 433, 434. 

540, 542, 582, 585. 
Richard: 327. 
Richard Carvel : 200. 
Richardson's Pamela: 194. 
Riddle : 342. 
Ride: 286, 324. 
Ridiculous, Ridicule: 200, 204, 

533. 574, 585- 
Right: 252, 284, 289, 325, 343, 

404, 439, 468, 535, 542, 585 
Righteousness: 166, 383, 403, 
Rigor: 568. 
Ripe, Ripen: 184, 210. 
RITCHEY'S WONDERFUL 

ERY: 277. 
River: 209, 323, 435, 47i, 57 
Road: 142, 394, 418, 546. 
Rob: 212, 232, 233, 558, 572. 



Robert Elsmere : 200. 
53- Robes: 147, 175, 231, 249, 569. 

Robinson Crusoe: 194. 

Robust: 229. 
424, 580. Rock of Rubies and Quarry of Pearls: 
585- 253. 

541, 585. Rocks: 177, 232, 276, 286, 328, 403, 458, 
546- 

Rods: 192, 275, 384. 

Rogue: 206, 329, 431, 557, 585. 
55i, 554, Roman: 225, 327. 

Romance: 585. 

Rome: 60, 191, 207. 

Romeo and Juliet: 211. 

Roof: 228, 254, 287. 
Si. Room: 204, 288, 322. 

Root: 210, 226, 355, 418, 541, 562. 
191, 211, Rope: 395. 
342, 343, Rose of Greneda: 18. 
468, 534, Roses: 209, an, 244, 245, 246, 247. 

Rotten: 182, 184, 185, 227, 387. 

Rousseau: 194. 

Roy, Ram Mohun: 408. 

Royal Institution: 316. 

Royalty: 433, 537. 

Rub: 228. 
385, 483, Ruby: 253, 383. 

Rude: 205, 210, 231, 434, 458, 545. 
394, 396, Ruin, Ruins: 191, 210, 343, 352, 404, 

434, 535, 569, 585. 
405, 553- Rule: 102, 254, 434, 535, 540. 

Rum: 92. 

Rumor: 560, 585. 
DISCOV- Rural Schools: 133. 

Rush, Dr. James: 189. 
1. Russet: 227. 

Rust: 230, 535. 

Rustle: 233. 



Sabbath: 100, 252. 

Sacrament : 249. 

Sacrament, origin of: 52. 

Sacred: 184, 353, 546. 

Sacrifice: 252, 337, 354, 542. 

Sacrilege: 409. 

Sad: 113, 182, 354, 385, 396, 524, 558. 

Sagacious, early meaning of: 50. 

Sage : 248. 

Sailor: 216. 

Saint: 101, 190, 209, 356, 402, 419. 

Saloon: 557. 

Salt: 212, 550. 

Saltpetre : 206. 

Salvation: 183, 402: 

Sand: 177, 341. 

Sand, Geo.: 195. 

Sanscrit: 59. 

Sarcasm: 483, 586. 

SARCASM AND INVECTIVE: 481. 

" Sarchedon ": 202. 

Satan: 101, 102, 328. 

Satchel: 184. 

Satire: 482, 483, 586. 

Satisfy: 183, 418. 

Savage, for woody: 48. 

Savages: 242, 328, 523. 

Save, Safe: 283, 326, 327, 355, 523, 575. 

Saviour: 198, 227, 386, 417, 485. 

Saunterers, early meaning of, 54. 

Saw: 229. 

Saxons : 60. 

Scabbard: 250. 

Scaffold: 100, 352. 

Scamp, early meaning of: 5a. 



Scandal: 233, 323, 560, 586. 

Scant: 227. 

Scar: an. 

"Scarlet Letter, The": 202. 

Scepter: 182, 183, 243. 

Sceptic: 323, 339, 365, 370, 586. 

Schiapaielli: 298. 

Schleiermacher: 365. 

Schleswig: 60, 61. 

Schmeidel, Prof.: 349, 351. 

Scholar, Scholastic: 352, 426. 

Schonfeld: 291. 

School: 184, 208, 276, 327, 34a, 533, 

534, 540, 547, 574- 
Schoolboy: 184. 
Schopflin, Daniel: 188. 
Science: 93, 162, 337, 339, 344, 347, 353, 

377, 397, 400, 437, 468, 536, 544, 

569, 586, 593. 
SCIENTIFIC SPECIALS: 255. 
Scolding: 192, 482, 486, 
Score: 208. 
Scorn: 225, 229, 328, 382, 396, 484, 535, 

539- 
Scotch : 60. 
Scotland : 99. 
Scott, Walter: 193, 195. 
Scripture: 182, 338, 348. 
Scruple: 325, 370. 
Scrutiny : 339. 

Sculptor: 244, 275, 450, 533. 
Scum: 113. 
Scylla: 182. 
Scythian Abaris: 539. 
Scythe: 575. 



6i6 



BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



Sea: 177, 180, 192, 204, 205, 210, 212, 

228, 233, 286, 323, 382, 396, 419, 435, 

538, 567, 586. 

Seal: 230, 539, 567. 

Search: 253, 343. 

Season: 227, 231, 403. 

Seat: 207, 329. 

Seats of the Mighty: 200. 

Secret: 228, 243, 327, 369, 383, 531, 

542, 586, 
Secret of Apt Words: 41. 
Security: 340, 343, 419, 446. 
Seebeck: 316. 

Seeing through Bones: 262. 
Seek: 192, 249, 396. 
Seek and Find: 253. 
Seem: 227, 403. 
Seer: 243. 
Seldom: 225, 534. 
Self-conceit: 586. 
Self-control : 586. 
Self-denial: 353, 356, 566, 586. 
Selfishness: 537, 587. 
Self-love: 207, 356, 468, 586, 587. 
Self-neglect : 207, 227. 
Self-praise : 587. 
Self-reliance: 587. 
Self-respect: 356, 587. 
Self -righteousness : 587. 
Self-trust: 142. 
Self-will: 587. 
Selling: 163. 
Sempronius : 327. 
Senate : 327. 
Sennacherib : 89. 
Sense, Senses: 114, 179, 207, 230, 252, 

324, 352, 355, 524, 537, 538, 540, 54i, 

544- 
Sensibility: 587. 
Sensitiveness: 587. 
Sensualist: 339, 531, 548, 587, 
SENTENCES, LOOSE AND PERIODIC: 

143- 
Sentiment : 587. 
Sepulchre: 288. 
Serene, Serenity: 341, 431. 
Sermon: 184, 252, 433, 536, 560, 574, 

588. 
Sermon on the Mount: 74. 
Serpent: 182, 231. 
Service, Serve: 161, 205, 210, 248, 288, 

327, 356, 419, 432, 434, 533. 54i- 
Serviss, Garrett P.: 301. 
SESQUIPEDALIA VERBA: 486. 
Setting: 128, 574. 
Seward, Secretary: 458. 
Seward, Thomas: 254. 
Shadow: 102, 112, 200, 209, 244, 250, 

287, 342, 354. 356, 402, 416, 418, 430, 
431, 468, 485, 523, 524, 534, 543, 55i, 
552, 562, 569. 

Shake, Shaking: 354. 

Shakespeare: 145, 146, 150, 243, 283, 

288, 426. 

Shallow: 166, 208, 225, 286, 545. 
Shame: 204, 206, 213, 339, 377, 402, 

414, 431, 485, 553, 568, 587- 
Shape: 230. 
Sharp: 537, 571. 
" She.": 202. 
Sheep: 541. 
Shell: 216, 276, 417. 
Shelves: 192. 
Shepherd, 165, 166. 
Shepherd's Hunting: 251. 
Shield: 101, 245. 
Shine* Shining: 147, 254, 328, 341, 447. 



Ship: 167, 344. 

Shirt : 248. 

Shive: 211. 

Shock: 204, 228, 545. 

Shoe: 251, 341. 

Shore: 180. 

SHORTER COURSE, THE: 127. 

Short Words: 90. 

Shoulders : 232. 

Shrine: 190. 

Shroud: 128, 254. 

Shuffle : 229. 

Shun: 245. 

Sibyl: 342. 

Sick: 132, 163, 182, 183, 226, 403, 561, 

57o. 
Siege : 232, 
Sigh: 180, 184, 185, 210, 232, 416, 

577- 
Sight: 163, 167, 203, 204. 
Silver: 212, 301, 315, 434, 523, 567- 
Silas Marner: 151. 
Silence: 128, 179, 191, 207, 244, 276, 

328, 344, 352, 356, 416, 481, 533, 589- 
Silk: 233, 250, 329, 426. 
Silly, early meaning of: 52. 
Simile: 5. 

Simon, Father: 365. 
Simon Pure: 327. 

Simple, Simplify: 165, 176, 352, 384, 
Simplicity: 176, 243, 249, 343, 588. 
Simpson, A.: 316. 
Simpson, Matthew, 169. 
Sin: 205, 207, 208, 210, 231, 287, 323, 

343, 394, 402, 403, 414, 4 J 9, 522, 534, 

538, 575, 576. 
Sincerity: 243, 287, 334, 337, 37», 543. 

544, 567, 588. 
Sinews, 207, 542. 

Sing: 183, 2ii, 227, 288, 344, 384, 390, 
Singer, Dr. Isadofe: 450. 
Sink: 252, 286, 289, 328. 
Sinner: 177, 402. 
Sinologues: 85. 
Sire: 192, 214. 
Sit: 183, 205, 250, 286, 538. 
Skeleton: 394. 
Skill: 248, 536. 

Sky: 288, 323, 328, 339, 532, 54i- 
Sky-robes : 286. 

Slander: 180, 233, 421, 433, 553, 588, 
Slang Phrase: 12. 
Slave-holder: 113. 
Slavery: 232, 327, 339, 556. 
Sleep, Slumber: 162, 165, 183, 192, 207, 

210, 2xi f 226, 228, 253, 285, 322, 328, 

402, 535, 568, 588. 
Sleeve: 226, 231. 
Slings : 228. 
Slippery : 204. 
Sloth: 233, 588. 
Smallpox: 534. 
Smell: 211, 253, 434- 
Smile, Smiling: 203, 210, 214, 225, 

232, 287, 328, 484, 569, 577, 588. 
Smith : 204. 

Smith, Dr. Geo. Adam: 347, 365- 
Smith, Robertson: 365. 
Smith, Dr. Walter C. : 408. 
Smoke, 286, 
Smooth: 208, 209, 229. 
Snail, 184, 
Snatch: 212. 
Sneer: 588. 
Snob: 588. 
Snore: 233. 
Snow: 205, 311, 239, 233, 247, 416, 



TOPICAL IND^X. 



617 



Soar: 128. 

Sociology, 200. 

Society, Social: 191, 285, 338, 341, 353, 
378, 434, 446, 523. 539, 542, S5i, 572, 
579, 588. 

Society Library: 189. 

Soil: 285. 

Solar System: 277. 

Soldier: 184, 206, 214, 233, 541. 

Solemn: 419, 420. 

Solitude, 285, 404, 430, 588. 

SOME LITERARY ASPECTS OF TO- 
DAY: 148. 

SOME POINTS ABOUT NEWSPA- 
PERS: 494. 

Son, 165, 208, 288, 328, 522, 550. 

Song: 161, 243, 248, 325, 396, 426, 537, 
588, 589. 

Songs of Innocence: 145. 

Sophistry: 589. 

Sorbonne Laboratories, 257. 

Sore : 226. 

Sorites: 241. 

Soteriology, 335, 336. 

Sorrow: 99, 113, 142, 180, 210, 212, 
226, 230, 245, 252, 396, 418, 484, 485, 

537, 539, 543, 557, 560, 567, 589- 
Soul, 28, 99, 100, ioi, 102, 113, 128, 132, 

146, 166, 167, 179, 183, 191, 192, 205, 
208, 209, 219, 227, 228, 229, 232, 244, 
250, 252, 254, 284, 286, 287, 288, 322, 
327, 328, 334, 341, 343, 344, 352, 353, 
354, 355, 356, 384, 402, 410, 415, 416, 

418, 419, 421, 424, 425, 431, 432, 435, 
436, 437, 439, 447, 485, 523, 524, 525, 
531, 532, 536, 537, 538, 539, 540, 543, 
55i, 554, 556, 561, 589. 

SOUL POWER IN ORATORY: 168. 

SOUL'S APPEAL, A: 416. 

Sound: 183, 184, 207, 244, 283, 327, 354, 

538, 552, 589. 

Source: 285, 340, 415, 550, 560. 

South Carolina, meaning of 81. 

Southey: 419. 

Sovereign: 180, 206, 324. 

Space: 244, 328. 

Sparkle: 181. 

Sparrow: 184, 230, 436. 

Spartacus: 33. 

Spear: 354. 

Spectacle: 184. 

Spectator, (Addison's) : 194. 

Spectroscope: 300, 321. 

Speculation, early meaning of: 52. 

Spencer, Herbert: 277, 283, 441. 

Speech, Speak: 41, 128, 168, 179, 180, 
181, 191, 192, 225, 229, 231, 232, 233, 
249, 252, 276, 284, 323, 324, 328, 340, 
395, 396, 431, 432, 468, 484, 485, 539, 
550, 569- 

Sphere: 228, 420, 535, 562. 

Spherical Form of the Earth: 71. 

Spin: 286, 353. 

Spinoza, Baruch: 441. 

Spinthariscope : 267. 

Spire: 536. 

Spirit: 146, 178, 190, 206, 208, 225, 227, 
243, 244, 283, 285, 328, 333, 340, 343, 
352, 355, 356, 385, 397, 401, 404, 416, 

419, 425, 435, 481, 535, 546, 573, 589. 
SPIRITUAL AND MATERIAL MEDI- 
CINE : 400. 

Spiritualist: 401. 
Spit : 206. 
Spite : 396. 
Spoils: 183, 289. 
Sport: 206, 209, 287. 



Spring: 177, 541, 589. 

SPRINGS OF CHARACTER 1426. 

Spurn: 229, 543. 

Spurs: 567. 

Spy, Spies: 230, 283, 552, 

Squinting Construction: 213. 

Stada of Pandera: 350. 

Staff: 324, 384. 

Stage? 182, 184, 200, 203, 254. 

Stain: 231, 402, 540. 

Stale: 227. 

Stampede: 576. 

Standard: 328, 545. 

Stanley, Dean: 407. 

Staple: 181. 

Star: 207, 228, 244, 250, 253, 277, 287 

288, 290, 328, 339, 344, 420, 427, 468 

523, 560, 570, 589. 
Star-chamber: 178. 
Startle: 328. 

Starve: 132, 182, 354, 537, 539- 
State: 432, 434, 438, 445, 569, 589- 
STATES, ORIGIN OF NAMES OF: 80 
Statesmanship : 589. 
Station: 230, 327. 
Statue: 101, 243, 275. 
Steal: 209, 211, 212, 232, 325, 326, 383 

537, 549, 578. 
Steed: 209. 

Steel: 181, 208, 227, 286. 
Steep: 227. 

STELLAR PHOTOMETRY: 291. 
Stem: 181. 

Step: 226, 229, 540, 550. 
Sterile : 228. 
Stern: 194. 
Stick, Sticking : 226. 
Stillness: 183, 207. 
Sting: 182, 329, 354. 
Stipulation, origin of: 54. 
Stomach: 165, 435. 
Stone: 163, 184, 211, 212, 226, 233, 254 

288, 383, 431, 534, 54°- 
Stoop: 128, 287, 355- 
Stories of a Sportsman: 196. 
Storm: 231, 420, 430. 
Story: 149, 205, 232, 589. 
Story, Dr. Robt. H. : 408. 
Stowe, Harriet Beecher: 196. 
Stratagems: 183. 
Stratford Bard: 200. 
Stratteford: 161. 
Straw: 251, 323, 433, 536. 
Strawberry: 251. 
Stream of Life: 16. 
Streams: 166, 210, 283, 377, 536, 577 
Street: 355. 
Strength, Strong: 179, 243, 245, 283 

284, 324, 329, 343, 344, 356, 384, 385 

402, 414, 425, 432, 447, 468, 485, 522 

523, 525, 533, 540, 55i, 559, 576, 590 
Strike, Stroke: 208, 227, 232, 249, 276 

326, 328, 329, 353, 4i8, 485, 534, 543 
Strive: 231, 532, 554. 
Struck : 2. 

Struggle: 275, 340, 343, 54*- 
Strut: 209. 
Stubble: 206, 287. 
Student: 113, 191, 590. 
Study: 191, 425, 535, 536, 538, 590. 
Stumble: 212. 
Stupid: 132, 243, 563, 575. 
Style of Expression: 9, 45, 590. 
Subject: 185, 208. 

Sublimity: 9, 10, 25, 28, 132, 448, 524 
Submission: 590. 
Submit: 335. 



6i8 



BEST THOUGHTS OE BEST THINKERS. 



Superstition: 339, 342, 344. 352, 555, 
S9o. 

Support: 338, 432, 

Sure: 230, 328. 

Surety: 383. 

Surface: 323, 435. 

Surfeit: 132, 182, 203, 287, 537- 

Surge: 212, 226. 

Survive: 342, 537, 551. 

Suspense : 394. 

Suspicion: 209, 356, 385, 578, 591. 

Swallow: 203, 247, 403. 

Swear: 212, 232, 404, 

Sweat : 206, 229. 

Swedenborgian : 391, 

Sweet, Sweeten: 183, 211, 212, 226, 231, 
243, 249, 252, 253, 285, 287, 355, 383, 
416, 419, 434, 524, 539, 550, 562. 

Sweetness: 147, 206, 210, 243, 288. 

Swine: 287. 

Swing, David: 408. 

Switzerland : 99. 

Sword: 178, 211, 233, 250, 481, 538. 

Syllable: 251. 

Syllogism: 569. 

Symbol: 112, 146, 1-92, 244, 557. 

Symbolism in Art: 14-17. 

Sympathy: 113, 156, 343, 468, 485, 543- 



SYMPOSIUM SPECIALS: 239, 469. 

Synecdoche : 9. 

System: 340, 369. 

Szczepanik, Herr Jan: 320. 

Subtlety: 590. 

Succeed, Success: 208, 327, 328, 433, 

446, 499, 536, 538, 555, 556, 575, 5/6, 

590. 
Successors: 178. 
Sudden: 184. 
Suffer: 179, 228, 232, 283, 326, 395, 

391, 402, 421, 434, 468, 543, 554, 556, 

560, 572, 590, 593. 
sufficiency: 355, 416, 525. 
Sugar: 228, 550. 
Sugar Industry: 312. 
Suggestion : 243 
Suicide: 227, 505, 590. 
SUICIDE, HISTORICAL ASPECT OF: 

505- 
Suit: 206, 551. 

Summer: 205, 209, 210, 254. 
Sun, Sunshine: 101, 113, 209, 211, 212, 

219, 228, 245, 282, 284, 286, 288, 328, 

382, 394, 396, 430, 435, 458, 534, 559- 
Sunday: 252, 341. 
Superfluity: 132. 



Table: 354- 

Table-talk : 77. 

Tact: 468, 591. 

Tailor : 204. 

Takamini, Dr. Jokichi: 308. 

Tale: 162, 181, 204, 209, 228, 233, 560. 

Tale, for counting: 48. 

Talents: 430, 468, 591- 

Talk: 326, 341, 540, 552, 59i- 

Tally: 208. 

TalleyraDd: 424, 

Taming of the Shrew: 185. 

Tar, 310. 

Task: 112, 339, 545- 

Taste: 247, 285, 326, 343, 468, 536, 

589, 59i- 
Tatters: 229, 231. 
Tavern: 545. 
Taxes: 92, 327, 539, 556. 
Teach, Taught: 142, 161, 181, 182, 

232, 248, 288, 343, 344, 396, 430, 436, 
Team, 211. 
Tears: 212, 225, 227, 232, 252, 284, 288, 

485, 522, 531, 567, 591, 593- 
Tedious: 204, 206. 
Tel-el- Amarna: 348. 
Telescope: 427, 570. 
Temper: 572, 591. 
Temperance: 229, 419, 561, 591. 
Tempest, The: 177, 229, 328, 458. 
Temple: 211, 342, 377, 549, 562. 
Temporal: 182. 
Tempted, Temptation: 343, 394, 434, 

532, 544, 59i- 
Tender: 210, 370, 432, 522, 524, 574, 

580, 591. 
Tenets: 284. 

Tennessee, meaning of: 81. 
Tennyson: 150, 409. 
Tennyson's "Princess.": 360. 
Tent: 231. 
Termagant: 229. 



Terror, Terrify: 192, 383. 

Test: 355, 369. 

Testimony: 538, 555. 

Tetrachordon : 289. 

Teutonic: 59. 

Texas, meaning of: 81. 

Text: 252. 

Thackeray: 195. 

Thankless: 231. 

Thanks: 178, 232, 353. 

Thaw: 227. 

Theatre: 254, 342. 

Theme: 283, 322, 325, 

Theodosius: 187. 

Theology: 199, 333, 573. 

THEOLOGY AND RELIGION: 333, 440. 

Theory: 276, 369, 394, 540. 

THEOSOPHY: 421. 

Thief: 178, 183, 209, 212, 232. 

Thief, early meaning of: 52. 

Thing, early meaning of: 50. 

Thirst: 165, 418. 

Thorns: 227, 341, 485. 

Thought, Thinking: 99, 114^ 165, 167, 
190, 203, 205, 207, 228, 229, 248, 275, 
276, 286, 322, 324, 325, 326, 327, 328, 
329, 340, 342, 356, 369, 394, 395, 396, 
402, 418, 419, 420, 426, 429, 431, 433, 
436, 437, 445, 447, 484, 522, 531, 535, 
536. 55i, 569, 570, 578. 

THOUGHT POTPOURRI: 99, 112. 

Thread: 181. 

Threaten: 204, 230, 327, 385, 403- 

Thrill: 244. 

Throb : 244. 

Throne: 329, 338, 353, 356, 417, 4*9, 
437- 

Thumb: 161, 206. 

Thunder: 326, 396, 543, 574- 

Thunder-harp: 100, 211, 

Tide: 225, 245, 425. 

Tidy, early meaning of: 50. 



TOPICAL INDEX 



619 



Tiffany, Dr. 0. H. 170. 

Tiger: 207, 

Time: 91, 100, 147, 163, 166, 185, 192, 

205, 209, 225, 227, 229, 249, 250, 

284. 289, 329, 342, 382, 403, 418, 429, 

523. 538, 539, 552, 575- 
Timber: 252. 
Timid: 356. 

Timon of Athens: 212. 
Tin: 314. 
Tiptoe: 212. 

Title: 535, 544, 582, 592. 
Titus Andronicus: 211. 
Toad: 183. 
Tobacco : 92. 

To-day: 113, 356, 419, 542, 546. 
To Have and To Hold: 200. 
Toil: 226, 434, 458, 551. 
Tolerance, 344, 592. 
Tolluck: 365. 
Tolstoi, Count: 196, 409. 
Tomb: 146, 219, 236, 288, 416. 
" Tom Jones" : 194. 
Tomorrow: 91, 113, 210, 212, 328, 546, 

558. 
Tongue: 41, 162, 166, 179, 180, 181, 184, 

205, 207, 209, 212, 233, 383, 385, 481, 

538, 552. 
Tooth-ache: 180 
Topsy-turvy, origin of: 55. 
Towers: 167. 
Torch: 178, 415. 
Torment : 403. 
Torrent : 229. 

Touch: 210, 214, 523, 535, 539- 
Touchstone : 250. 
Tour: 552. 
Tradition: 192. 
Trade: 344, 432, 544- 
Tragedy: 531. 

Traitors: 178, 208, 226, 592. 
Transcendent: 132, 322, 524, 543- 
TRANSMUTATION OF SILVER INTO 

GOLD: 301. 
Travel, Traveller: 229, 23a, 418, 59a. 
Traveller's Song: 64. 
Treachery: 447. 



Tread: 230, 328, 416. 

Treason: 183, 248, 592. 

Treasury, Treasure: 128, 419, 

Trees: 184, 212, 285, 356, 382, 
560. 

Tremble: 354. 

Trial: 525, 534, 592. 

Tribe: 342. 

Tribute: 92, 338, 541. 

Trick: 179, 206, 209. 

Trident: 211, 

Trifles: 232, 430, 431, 468, 
592. 

Trinity : 409. 

"Tristram Shandy.": 194. 

Triumph, 339, 356, 543. 

Triumph of Honor: 250. 

Troilus and Cressida: 210. 

Trochaic: 18. 

Trope: 5. 

Trouble, Troubled: 185, 226, 
384, 484, 572, 592. 

Trowel: 183, 396. 

Trumpet : 327. 

Truncheon: 178. 

Trust: 102, 179, 183, 383, 522, 
592, 

Truth: 8, 112, 113, 128, 163, 
201, 206, 210, 228, 243, 246, 
252, 289, 325, 337, 340, 342, 
353, 354, 355, 369, 377, 382, 
395, 396, 403, 404, 419, 43i, 
472, 531, 533, 535, 537, 549, 
56i, 593- 

Tumult: 191. 

Turgenieff: 196. 

Turk: 19, 339. 

Tuthill, Richard S. 452. 

Tutor: 369. 

Twain, Mark : 200. 

Twelfth Night: 203. 

Twin: 575. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona: 

Type, 146, 522, 562. 

Tyranny: 179, 338, 339, 377, 

Tyrant: 102, 344, 555- 



430. 
383, 432, 



537, 559, 



228, 354. 



523, 535, 

166, 177, 
247, 248, 
343, 344. 
385, 394, 
432, 433, 
550, 551, 



177- 
592. 



u 



Ugly: 183, 545- 

Una and the Lion: 15. 

Unbelief: 354- 

Uncertain: 177, 468, 485- 

UNCLASSIFIED: 481. 

Uncle Tom's Cabin: 196, 202. 

Understanding: 337, 343, 352, 353, 37°, 

394, 421, 536, 54i, 545, 546, 559, 582. 
Undone: 250. 
Uneasy : 207. 
Unfashionable : 209. 
Unfinished : 209. 
Unhappy: 329, 344, 522, 535. 
UNIFICATION OF THE CHRISTIAN 

CHURCHES: 371. 
Union, Unity: 128, 371, 377, 383, 593. 
Unitarian: 405. 
Univorsalist : 409. 



Universe: 277, 338, 340, 405, 420, 57°- 

University: 190. 

Unjust: 114. 

Unkind: 229, 593. 

Unlawful: 395. 

Unpolluted : 230. 

Unprofitable: 227. 

Unseen: 285, 323. 

Unskillful : 229. 

Unwelcome : 207. 

Unworthy: 229, 523, 567. 

Upright: 339, 343- 

Uranium : 264. 

Use: 178, 179, 183, 190, 191, 212, 227, 
229, 230, 248, 250, 286, 324, 329, 342, 
343, 468, 531, 541, 545, 572, 593. 

Usurp: 340. 

Usury, early meaning of: 51. 



620 



BEST THOUGHTS OP BEST THINKERS. 



Vague: 545- 

Vain, Vanity: aio, an, 284, 324, 337, 

339, 344, 356, 383, 417, 485, 536, 538, 

552- 
Valiant: 207, 225, 590. 
Valleys: 167, 524. 
Valor: 207, 545, 585, 593. 
Value: 180, 323, 342, 369, 429, 567. 
"Vanity Fair.": 202, 324, 384, 551, 

593- 
Van Manen, Prof.: 350, 351. 
Vanquished: 114. 
Vapor: 228. 
Variable: 212, 290. 
Variable Star Algol: 290. 
Variety: 593. 

Varlet, early meaning of, 53. 
Vaseline: 312. 
Vastness: 9, 212, 244. 
Vatican: 188. 
Vegetable stratum : 27. 
Vehemence: 575: 
Veil, painted: 14. 
Veins: 561, 566, 569. 
Vengence: 593. 
Venomous: 183, 233, 570. 
Ventricle: 180. 
Venture: 164, 210, 402. 
Venus at the bath: 15. 
Verbosity: 181. 
Vercelli Book: 64. 
Vermont, meaning of: 81. 
Verne, Jules, 200. 
Verse: 252, 288, 325, 589. 
Versification: 17. 
Vessel: 538, 539. 
Vestal: 531. 
Vestibule: 551. 
Vesture: 183. 
Vex: 204, 370, 432. 
Vicar of Wakefield: 194, 202. 
Vicarious Atonement: 198. 
Victoria, Queen: 317. 



Victory, Victorious: 209, 415, 
577, 593- 

Vice: 93, 142, 212, 231, 322, 
403, 522, 525, 537, S42, 549, 
593- 

Vigor: 340, 547, 55i. 

Vile> 204, 206, 207, 212, 325. 

" Village Tales " : 195. 

Villain: 179, 209, 437, 541. 

Villain, early meaning of: 52. 

Villainy: 102, 182, 209, 562. 

Vindicate: 285, 431, 433. 

Violence: 165. 

Violets: 181, 203, 204, 230. 

Virgin birth: 349. 

Virginia, meaning of: 8r. 

Virtue: 93, 101, 128, 132, 162, 
185, 190, 192, 210, 212, 233, 
252, 286, 287, 289, 222, 323, 
328, 338, 340, 343, 355, 377, 
403, 417, 431, 433, 434, 446, 
523, 525, 534, 537, 538, 539, 
543, 544, 546, 547, 553, 557, 
562, 568, 570, 571, 574, 576, 

Visage: 182, 228. 

Vision: 339, 383. 

Vistula : 59. 

Vocation: 205. 

Voice: 167, 181, 184, 226, 227, 
327, 382, 383, 396,, 523, 543, 
593- 

Void: 252,, 342, 540. 

Volapuk : 79. 

Vulcan's Blaze: 24. 

Vulgar: 227. 

Volition: 471. 

Voltaire: 365. 

Volume, 180. 

Vossius : 384. 

Vote : 370. 

Vow: 325, 593. 

Voyage : 235. 



417, 532, 
327, 338, 

545, 589, 



178, 180, 
247, 250, 
326, 327, 
385, 402, 
468, 522, 
54i, 542, 
559, 561, 
577, 593- 



231, 244, 
551, 552, 



w 



"Wages: 353. 

Waist, origin of: 55. 

Wait: 288, 416, 532, 53/;. 

Wake: 326, 353, 535, 5<58- 

Waldensian: 391. 

Walk: 204, 205, 206, 226, 227, 243, 250, 

285, 286, 341, 431, 535. 
Wall: 207, 2X1, 254, 342, 420, 543. 
Wallow: 205. 
Walpole, Horace: 194. 
Wander: 191. 
Want: 395. 
Wanton: 209, 395. 
War: 8, 207, 209, 210, 225, 233, 254, 

276, 288, 325, 327, 328, 396, 447, 563. 
Ward: 206. 

Ward, Mrs. Humphrey: 408. 
Wardrobe: 190. 
Warsaw: 59. 
Wash: 205. 

Waste: 178, 231, 250, 538. 
Wasteful: 204. 



Water: 177, 205, 208, 210, 211, 215, 231, 

254, 276, 341, 383, 533, 540, 567- 
Wave: 204, 403. 
Waverly Novels: 149. 
Wax: 165, 229, 559. 
Weak: 132, 211, 284, 286, 343, 353, 

355, 384, 385, 421, 430, 43i, 535, 536, 

540, 549, 574- 
Wealth: 128, 248, 309, 342, 395, 432, 

543, 559- 
Wealth, early meaning of: 55. 
WEALTH MADE BY CHEMISTS: 309. 
Weapon: 231, 395, 425, 43°, 481. 
Wear: 147. 

Weary: 210, 227, 229, 233, 561. 
Weave: 276, 524. 
Web: 185, 353, 572. 
Webster, Dan'l. : 172. 
Wed: 185, 285, 575. 
Wedding, 147. 
Weep: 179, 284, 447, 591, 
Weiohsel: 59.- 



TOPICAL INDEX. 



621 



Weigh, 226, 582. 

Weight: 165, 356. 

Weiss: 365. 

Welcome: 210, 286, 420, 534, S43t 560. 

Well: 163, 212. 

Wellhausan : 348. 

Welsh, 60. 

Wesley, John: 379. 

West, Thos. : 80. 

Westcott: 365. 

Westminster Confession of Faith: 360. 

What Ingersoll Believed: 393. 

WHAT TO READ IN FICTION: 202. 

Wheel: 383. 

WHEN THE PRESIDENTS DIED: 501. 

Whipping: 228, 229. 

Whirlwind: 229. 

Whiskey: 92. 

Whisper: 430, 574. 

Whistle, 162. 

Whittier, John G. : 415. 

Wholesome: 227, 574. 

Who's Who: 95. 

WHO-WHEN- WHERE SERIES: 161- 

167, 177-185, 203-212, 225-233, 247- 

254, 283-289. 
Wickedness: 250, 403, 404, 431, 432, 

447, 543, 589, 
Wiclif, John: 72. 
Wiclif's Apology: 73. 
Wide: 212, 418. 
Widow: 250, 384. 
Widow, applied to men: 50. 
Wife: 147, 288, 522, 523- 
Wife, origin of: 55. 
Wilherforce: 419. 
Wild Beasts: 102. 
Wilderness: 354^ 
Will: 167, 229, 248, 285, 354, 395, 4U. 

430, 43i, 540, 554- 
Wilton, Jack: 194. 
Win: 142, 178, 232, 524, 532. 
Wind: 100, 142, 164, 180, 203, 230, 

251, 342, 396, 533, 54i. 
Window: 211, 538. 
Wine: 249, 286, 325. 
Wings: 251, 285, 286, 323, 382, 383, 

396, 414, 420, 435, 534, 567, 
Winter: 100, 184, 209. 
Winter's Tale: 203. 
Wirt, Wm. : 172. 
Wisconsin, meaning of: 81. 
Wisdom: 114, 128, 190, 192, 251, 285, 

329, 383, 403, 468, 535, 543, 55i, 558, 

560, 561, 576, 578, 590, 594- 
Wise: 113, 132, 147, 165, 182, 184, 190, 

208, 209, 233, 247, 249, 250, 252, 284, 

324, 325, 328, 340, 341, 355, 382, 416, 

417, 430, 447, 539, 540, 54i, 542, 544- 
Wish: 207, 228, 251, 254, 403, 419, 539, 

554- 
Wit: 10, 114, 177, 180, 216, 228, 243, 

247, 251, 322, 323, 327, 329, 539, 54i, 

542, 592. 
Witch: 227, 525. 
Witchcraft: 232. 



Woe: 230, 248, 285, 326, 402, 576. 

Woman: 93, 117, 179, 181, 184, 185, 
208, 210, 227, 231, 232, 233, 244, 250, 
323, 325, 327, 328, 329, 339, 354- 384, 

523, 524, 525, 539, 544, 555, 558, 561, 
593- 

Woman, early meaning of: 55. 
" Woman in White," 202. 
WOMAN'S QUESTION, A: 244. 
WOMAN'S QUESTION, A REPLY TO: 

245- 
WOMEN AND COLLEGE: 129. 
Wonder: 142, 244, 324, 341, 418, 523, 

524, 543- 

WONDERS OF RADIUM: 257. 

Woo: 185, 208, 232, 244. 

Woodbine : 287. 

Wood, Prof.: 318. 

Woods: 167. 

Woof: 286, 428. 

Words: 99, 114, 147, 192, 204, 228, 249, 
251, 276, 284, 324, 326, 369, 403, 475, 
481, 484, 485, 522, 536, 540, 552. 

WORDS, BEST THOUGHTS ABOUT: 
33. 

Words, Study of: 54. 

WORDS, THEIR USE AND ABUSE: 
41, 89. 

Wordsworth: 145. 

Works, Work: 165, 206, 228, 344, 352, 
377, 417, 434, 535, 542, 575. 

Workmen: 190. 

World: 166, 167, 178, 180, 181, 182, 183, 
184, 191, 204, 209, 210, 225, 227, 230, 
231, 247, 248, 251, 252, 254, 275, 283, 
285, 286, 323, 325, 328, 340, 341, 
343, 344, 353, 355, 356, 385, 394, 395, 
403, 416, 418, 419, 420, 42T, 424, 430, 
431, 432, 433, 522, 523, 524, 531, 533, 
540. 

Worms: 185, 203, 208, 233, 404. 

Worship: 146, 336, 344. 427, 436. 

Worth: 180, 233, 327, 430, 432, 433, 
434, 53i. 

Wot: 311. 

Wound: 91, 211, 214, 344, 417, 481, 
485, 540, 569. 

Wraith: 416. 

Wrath: 342, 344. 

Wreath : 209. 

Wrecks: 91, 286, 328, 403. 

Wren: 209. 

Wrestler of Phillipi: 200. 

Wretched, Wretch: 179, 210, 231, 337, 
403- 

Wring: 230. 

Wrinkle: 209. 

Write: 180, 210, 226, 244, 247, 325, 
326, 383, 416, 432, 522, 537. 

Writers: 191, 340, 575. 

WRITINGS, MANKIND'S EARLIEST: 

235- 
Wrong: 229, 250, 284, 343, 37°, 396, 

402, 417, 542, 550. 
Wrought: 416, 430. 



Xavier: 414. 



Xenophon : 364. 



622 



BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



Yale College: 189. 

Yarn: 185. 

Year: 163, 232, 252, 253, 283, 328, 415, 

420. 
Yellow: 113. 

Yerkes Observatory : 277. 
Yesterday: 91, 205, 225, 326, 356, 542. 
Yield: 285. 
Y. M. C. A.: 373- 



Yoke: 355. 

York : 60, 209. 

Young: 166, 209, 219, 228, 345, a$i, 

558. 
Young, Thomas: 315. 
Young-Helmholtz : 316. 
Youth: 128, 166, 177, 184, 208, 232, 328, 

337, 430, 431, 5*3. 537. 576, 594- 



Zeal; 128, 555, 504- 
Zealot: 284. 



Zola: 196. 

Zoological Romanes: 222. 






INDEX OF AUTHORS. 



623 



lln&ei of Butbors, 



Abbott, Lyman: 38s, 539- 

Abd-el-Kader : 35. 

Academy and Literature: 146. 

Adams, C. F. : 222. 

Adams, H. J. G. : 402, 578. 

Adams, John Coloman: 415. 

Adams, Sarah Flower: 100. 

Adams, T. : 543, 554, 587- 

Addison, Joseph: 108, 327, 341, 418, 

530, 534. 535, 558, 566, 572, 579, 

587. 
Aeschines: 431. 
Aesop: 8. 

Agesilaus: 558, 573, 593. 
Akers, Elizabeth: 567. 
Aikin: 545. 
Aikman, W. : 524. 
Alcott, A. B. : 468. 
Aldrich, Henry: 325. 
Alembert, Marchioness De: 575. 
Alexander of Macedon: 591. 
Alexander, Dr. Addison: 90. 
Alexander, J. W. W. : 369. 
Alfleri, V., 545, 550, 593- 
Alford, Dean: 108, 214. 
Alger, W. R. : 113, 584, 589. 
Alison, Archibald: 215. 
Alleine, Joseph: 544. 
Allison, Richard : 247. 
Allston, Washington: 530, 585. 
Amiel, H. F. : 575, 576. 
Andre, Father : 37. 
Angelo, Michael: ioi, 530. 
Anne of Austria: 584. 
Anthony, Saint : 587. 
Antisthenes: 112, 568. 
Arab Proverb: 113, 593- 
Arber: 154. 
Aristippus: 568. 

Aristotle: 57, 112, 446, 527, 537, 549. 
Arnold, Angelique: 577. 
Arnold, Matthew: 157. 
Arnot, Neil: 551. 
Ascham, Roger: 36, 41. 
Atterbury, Francis : 534. 
Augustine, Saint: 112, 114, 355, 356, 

538, 542, 573, 592. 
Aurelius, Marcus : 94. 
Ausonius, D. W. : 377, 557- 
Azai, Rabbi Ben: 543. 



Bacon, Francis: 44, 57, 79, 112, 190, 
247, 336, 431, 536, 54i, 544, 550, 551, 
562, 578, 590. 

Bailey, Joanna: 541, 551. 

Bailey, J. S. : 38, 142, 354, 549. 

Bailey, Philip J.: 99, 113, 573. 

Bain: 109. 

Bale, John : 69. 

Balfour, F. M. : 541, 549. 

Balguy, John: 448. 



Ballou, Hosea: 353, 415, 554, 591. 

Balzac, H. De: 113, 369, 525, 55 1, 
552, 553- 

Bancroft, Geo.: 114, 128, 537, 552, 581. 

Barbour, John: 75. 

Barrow, W. : 338, 588. 

Barry, Michael J.: 100. 

Bartol, C. A.: 431, 540. 

Barton, Bernard: 575. 

Basil, Saint: 571, 592. 

Basse, William: 283. 

Bate, Julius: 276, 594. 

Baxter, Richard: 324, 353, 587. 

Bayne, Peter: 394, 571. 

Beaufort, De: 523. 

Beaumont, Francis: 404, 566. 

Beaumont and Fletcher: 250, 539. 

Beda (Baeda) : 62, 66. 

Beecher, H. W. : 34, 36, 80, 94, 128, 
146, 190, 192, 276, 335, 336, 343, 344, 
403, 419, 420, 430, 431, 432, 433, 
468, 522, 538, 540, 546, 547, 556, 560, 
561, 566, 571, 574, 588, 589, 592. 

Beecher, Lyman: 552. 

Bell, Currer : 44, 

Bentham, J. : 592, 593. 

Bentley, Richard: 541. 

Berger, Louis: 442. 

Berkeley, Bp. George: 329. 

Bias: 572. 

Bible: 382, 383, 384, 419, 435, 582. 

Bickerstaff, Isaac: 561. 

Binney, Horace: 564. 

Beethoven, L. V. : 573. 

Bellers, John : 588. 

Blackstone, Sir W. : 568. 

Blaikie: 530. 

Blair, Hugh: 242, 337, 342, 551, 559, 

564. 
Blair, Montgomery: 457, 558. 
Blavatsky, H. P.: 421, 424. 
Blessington, Lady: 113. 
Boardman, G. D. : 545, 547. 
Boccaccio : 77. 
Bohours, Dominique: 573. 
Boileau, Nicholas: 592. 
Bolingbroke, Lord: 276, 546, 580, 593. 
Bonaventura, St.: 341. 
Booklover's Magazine: 129. 
Bossuet, J. B., de: 142, 562. 
Boston Transcript: i27._ 
Boufflers, De: 561, 571. 
Bovee, C. N. : 36, 79, "3, 468, 523, 

524, 537, 548, 550, 563, 57i, 572, 573, 

577, 579, 584, 587- 
Bowring, John: 555. 
Boyle : 430. 

Bradford, Amory H. : 371. 
Brainard, J. G. C, 142. 
Bremer, Frederika: 34. 
Brent, Richard: 525. 
Brereton, James: 329. 
Briggs, Dean: 121. 



624 



BKST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



Brodie, B. 0. : 593, 

Brodie, J. F. : 384, 536. 

Brooke, Stopford, 62. 

Brooks, Katherine Kinsey: 450. 

Brooks, Phillips: 342, 592. 

Browne, Sir Thomas: 44, 285, 554. 

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett: 244. 

Browning, Robt. : 100, 214, 580. 

Bruyere, J. de L. : 132, 538, 550, 568, 

572. 
Buckle, H. T. : 46. 
Buddha: 561, 576. 
Bulwer-Lytton, Sir Edw. G. : 36, 93, 

276, 353, 356, 369, 417, 433, 535, 550, 

556, 557, 562, 566, 584. 
Burgh, James: 113. 
Burke, Edmund: 38, 79, 92, 338, 340, 

344, 447, 468, 540, 545, 549, 556, 

563, 567, 574, 576. 
Burnet, Gilbert: 341. 
Burns, Robert: 556, 571. 
Burr: E. B. : 355. 
Burton: 105, 395. 

Bushnell, Horace: 342, 344, 535, 561. 
Butler: 121. 

Butler, Sam'l: 6, 10 1, 164, 166, 323. 
Buxton: Charlesj 591. 
Buxton, Sir T. F. : 80, 113. 
Buck, Charles: 553. 
Buckingham, Duke of: 553. 
Buddhist Scriptures: 419. 
Bunsen, C. C. J.: 339. 
Bunyan, John: 324. 
Burbridge, T. : 353. 
Burroughs, John: 150. 
Bury, Richard de: 192. 
Byrd: 164. 
Byron, Lord: 35, 43, 89, 94, "3, "4, 

163, 447, 543, 546, 548, 561, 565, 567, 

57i» 588. 



Caballero, F. : 566. 

Cabell, P. B. : 391. 

Caedmon: 62. 

Caird, John: 586. 

Calderon de La Barca: 586. 

Campbell: 108, 142. 

Campbell, G. : 550. 

Canavowski, Mrs.: 157. 

Carew, Thomas: 250. 

Carey, Henry: 326. 

Carey, Phoebe: 419- 

Carlyle, Thomas: 35, "2. 128, 142, 190, 

339, 377, 402, 418, 481, 535, 538, 539. 
546, 548, 568, 583, 586. 

Carnot: 589. 

Cass, Lewis: 339- 

Cato: 559- 

Catullus: 593- 

Caussin, N. : 403, 549. 

Cavour, 592. 

Cecil, Richard: 128, 337, 34*, 342, 377, 

554, 562, 581, 587- 
Centlivre, Susannah: 327. 
Cervantes, S. M. de: 128, 165, 580, 

581, 593- 
Chalmers, Thomas: 431, 553- 
Chambers' Biogr. Dictionary: 76. 
Chamfort, S, R. N. : 113, 552, 575- 
Channing, W. E. : 37, 94, ^44, 337, 

340, 344, 556, 558, 587- 

Chapin, E. H. : 38, 80, 101, 276, 356, 

523, 535, 558, 559, 571, 580, 586. 
Chapman: 167, 384. 
Charles I.: 583. 
Charles II.: 384. 



Chase, S. P.: 457. 

Chasles, V. E. P.: 576. 

Chateaubriand, F. A. : 447, 536. 

Chatfleld, Paul: 37. 

Chatham, Lord: 559. 

Chaucer, Geoffrey: 44, 67, 79, 161, 

162, 579. 
Cheever, G. B. : 577. 
Chenevix: 555. 
Chesterfield, Lord: 395, 539, 541, 546, 

55i, 580. 
Child, Lydia Maria: 99, 146. 
Chillingworth, Wm. : 339. 
Choate, Rufus: 192, 538. 
Christlieb, Theodore, 565. 
Chrysostom, St.: 355, 562. 
Churchill, Charles: 557, 564. 
Cibber, Colley: 327, 575. 
Cicero, M. T. : 57, 58, 91, 92, 112, 142, 

418, 536, 539, 546, 547, 558, 565, 

566, 572, 575, 582, 590. 
Clarke, Adam, 385. 
Clarke J. F. : 353. 
Clarkson, Jos. R. : 398. 
Clarke, Sir Edward: 153, 534, 547. 
Clarendon, Lord : 544. 
Claudian: 113, 571. 
Clay, Henry: 585. 
Cleon: 563. 

Cleveland, Chas. D. : 72, 77. 
Cleveland, Grover: 560. 
Cleveland Leader: 160, 461. 
Cleveland Press: 435. 
Clulow, W. B.: 551, 553, 586. 
Cobbett, "Wm. : 43, 109. 
Coke, Sir Edward: 35, 165. 
Cole, Alice Lena: 485. 
Coleridge, H. : 582. 
Coleridge, S. T. : 35, 37, 77, 339, 340, 

352, 354, 430, 525, 540, 549, 55i, 553, 

561, 578, 581, 583, S85. 
Collier, Jeremy: 91, 548, 586. 
Collyer, Robert: 352. 
Colton, C. C. : 34, 79, 93, 102, 113, 132, 

142, 147, 337, 352, 369, 384, 385, 403, 

430, 431, 525, 535, 536, 537, 538, 539, 

540, 542, 545, 547, 548, 552, 555, 

556, 557, 558, 569, 572, 574, 577, 579, 

580, 584, 593- 
Common Prayer: 166. 
Confucius: 102, 355, 549, 563, 580, 583, 

588. 
Congreve, William: 142, 328, 582. 
Conybeare: 567. 
Cook, Eliza: 100. 
Cook, Joseph: 170, 384, 565, 573. 
Cooke, Edmund Vance: 459. 
Cooley, Harris R. : 388. 
Corneille, Pierre: 113, 587. 
Cornellisen, Norbert: 56. 
Corson: 152. 
Cottle, Joseph: 565. 
Coulter, John : 489. 
Cousin: 57. 

Cowley, Abraham : 284. 
Cowper, Wm.: 101, 542, 551, 553, 557, 

570, 574, 58o. 
Cox, S. H.: 335- 
Crabbe, George: 554. 
Cranch, C. P. : 99. 
Crandall, L. A.: 386. 
Crashaw, Richard: 254. 
Crawford, F. M., 395, 549. 
Critic: The: 154. 
Croley, H. F. : 100, 557. 
Cromwell, Oliver: 590. 
Crooker, J. H. : 405. 



INDEX OF AUTHORS. 



Crosby, Howard: 377. 
Crousaz, J. P.: 586. 
Curie, M. : 259. 
Curtiss, G. W. : 562. 
Cusa: 533. 

Cuyler, T. L. : 192, 341. 
Cyprian, St. : 546. 



Daniel, Samuel : 249. 

Danne, M. : 258. 

Dante Alighieri: 101. 

D'Aubigne, J. N. : 276. 

Davenant, Sir William: 283, 384, 539. 

Davie, Adam: 164. 

Davies, S. : 566. 

Davies, W. W. : 345. 

Davis, W. H., 431. 

Davy, Sir Humphrey: 35, 339, 353. 

Dawson, G. : 190, 568. 

Decker, Thomas: 283, 577. 

Defoe, Daniel: 147, 326, 536, 541. 

Degerando, J. M. : 548. 

Delany, Patrick: 356. 

Del Sarto: 530. 

Deluzy, Madame: 385, 552. 

Demmon, Isaac N. : 148. 

Demosthenes: 91, 369, 590. 

Denham, Sir John: 38, 283, 582. 

Dennis, John: 325. 

De Quincey, Thomas: 47, 584. 

Derozier: 569. 

De Sales, Francis: 481, 559. 

Descartes: 543. 

De Stael, Madame: 417. 

Detroit Free Press: 223. 

De Vere, Aubrey: 579. 

DeVere, Sir A. : 561. 

De Vigny, A. V.: 536. 

Dewitt, J: 354. 

Dexter: 434, 559. 

Dick, Thomas: 112. 

Dickens, Chas*. : 395, 522, 540, 561. 

Dickinson, John: 128, 377. 

Diderot, Denis: 113, 446, 585. 

Dilwyn, L. W., 568, 584. 

Diodorus, Siculus: 570. 

Disraeli, Benjamin: 431, 533, 535, 539, 

548, 553, 579, 585- 
Donne, John: 249, 548, 588. 
Doudan, X. : 564. 
Dow, Lorenzo: 543, 544. 
Dramatic Times : 83. 
Drayton, Michael : 249. 
Drummond, Wm. : 112. 
Dryden, John: 34, 79, 101, 102, 113, 

128, 142, 215, 323, 417, 544, 566. 
Dubay, S. : 588. 
Dufferin, Lady: 10 1. 
Dumas, Alex : 546. 
Duncan, "William: 591. 
Duns, Scotus: 54. / 
Dwight, John S. : 538. 
Dyer, Sir Edward: 164, 190, 402, 568. 



625 



Eliot, Charles William: 159. 

Eliot, George [Mary Ann (Marian) 
Evans.]: 112, 113, 142, 275, 402, 403, 
417, 481, 522, 525, 531, 542, 547, 
550. 

Elizabeth, Queen: 112, 545. 

Elliot, Ebenezer: 541. 

Ely, R. T.: 579- 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo: 34, 35, 79, 
91, 92, 100. 112, 113, 114, 142, 190, 
343, 344, 355, 394, 432, 433. 434, 524, 
530, 535, 540, 543, 544, 546, 559, 563, 
566, 576, 577, 580, 591. 

Emmons, Nathaniel: 113, 547, 555, 560, 
565, 590. 

Enclos, Ninon de I': 102, 553, 564- 

Endymion: 591. 

Epictetus: 57, 112, 337. 

Epicurus: 556. 

Erasmus: 355. 

Erskine, Lord: 43. 

Esek, 591. 

Euripides: 546. 

Evans, J. H. : 420. 

Evarts, W. M. : 353, 434. 

Evremond, Charles: 433, 534, 539, 554. 
593- 



Farquhar, George: 329, 574. 

Farrar, F. W. : 418. 

Feltham, Owen: 540, 550. 

Felton, C. C. : 36, 567. 

Fenelon, Francis de S. : 591. 

Feuillet, Octave: 560. 

Field, H. M. : 341, 539. 

Fielding, Henry: 112, 113, 534, 551, 

556, 581. 
Finlayson, Geo. : 93. 
Finod: 128. 

Flammarion, Camille: 281. 
Flavel, John: 587. 
Fletcher, Andrew, of Saltoun: 325. 
Fletcher, John: 250, 555. 
Fiinders-Petrie, W. M. : 235. 
Fontaine, Charles: 342, 543, 585. 
Fontenelle, B. Le B. D. : 80. 
Ford, John : 592. 
Fordyce, George : 585. 
Foster, John: 448, 570, 585. 
Franklin, Benj. : 92, 113, 336, 355, 534, 

536, 545, 550, 557, 562, 583, 588. 
Frederick William: 567. 
Freeman, E. A. : 572. 
French: 36. 
Froude, Jas. A.: 128, 342, 354, 369, 

434, 542, 592. 
Fuller, Thos. : 37, 79, 80, 322, 340, 402, 

534, 537, 538, 55o, 559, 560, 564, 565, 

567, 574, 578, 583- 
Fulton, R. H. : 543- 
Fuselli, Henry: 560. 



Ebers, Emil: 555. 

Ecclesiasticus : 582. 

Edmondson, G. W. : 315. 

Edgeworth, Maria: 583. 

Edwards, Jonathan: 356, 419, 560. 

Edwards, Tryon: 33, 34, 79, 128, 334, 
337, 339, 342, 343, 353, 354, 355, 384, 
394, 403, 419, 53°, 533, 535, 536, 54i, 
542, 543, 547, 549, 552, 555, 556, 561, 
564, 568, 573, 574, 578, 580, 582, 
591. 



Galen: 552. 

Garfield, James A. : 276, 562, 563. 

Garrick, David: 572. 

Garth, Samuel : 328. 

Gaskell: 215. 

Gasparin, Madam: 355. 

Geike, C. : 431. 

Genlis, Madame de: 558. 

George III. : 549. 

German Proverb: 540. 

Gibbon, Edward, 113, 340, 572. 



626 



BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



Gifford, 0. P.; 586. 

Gifford, Win. : 58, 589. 

Gildersleeve : 481. 

Giles, H. : 431, 542, 570, 588, 

Girardin, Emile de: 344, 572. 

Gladstone, Wm. E. : 132, 337, 344, 446. 

Godwin, Parke: 564. 

Goethe, J. W. v.: 41, 91, 102, 112, 113, 

337. 354. 355, 430, 431, 529, 533, 534, 

535. 552, 571- 
Golden Rule: 432. 
Goldsmith, Oliver: 37, 79, 101. 112, 

147, 340, 557, 558, 569, 59i, 593- 
Good, J. M. : 356. 
Googe: 163. 
Gordon, A. J. : 394. 
Gosse, Sir Edmund: 153. 
Gosson: 163. 
Gotthold, J. E. L. : 538. 
Gough, John B. : 429, 573. 
Gould, Hialmer B. : 1, 243, 377, 418, 

433, 434, 533, 565, 569, 583, 594- 
Graphic : 224. 
Gray, Asa: 353. 
Gray, Thos. : 37, 593. 
Greeley, Horace: 537, 538. 
Gregory the Great: 585. 
Green : 79. 

Green, J. R. : 67, 574. 
Greville, Lord: 142. 
Guardian : 588. 
Guicciardini, F. : 563. 
Gurney, J. J. : 432. 
Guthrie, Thomas: 420. 



Haliburton, T. C: 550, 556, 574. 

Hale, Edward Everett: 541. 

Hale, Mrs.: 523, 552. 

Hale, S. J.: 562. 

Halifax: 571. 

Hall, Bishop: 142, 190, 250, 335, 34a, 

395, 433, 538, 547, 583- 
Hall, John: 551, 572. 
Hallam, John: 565. 
Halleck, Fitzgreene: 385. 
Hamilton, J.: 132. 
Hamilton, Sir William: 569. 
Hanway, Jonas: 559. 
Hare, A. W. : 339, 394, 468, 545, 557, 
Hare, J. C. : 418, 573, 585- 
Harley, G. D. : 578. 
Harrington, Sir John: 248. 
Harvard, W. : 385, 578. 
Harvey, Stephen: 323. 
Hawes, Joel: 432. 
Hawkesworth, John: 552. 
Hawthorne, N. : 560, 565. 
Hayes, Willet M. : 133. 
Hazlitt, Wm.: 113, 433, 533, 539, 545, 

558, 560, 566, 567, 570, 580, 581, 583, 

588. 
Heber, R. : 18, 589. 
Hecker, I. T. : 344. 
Hedge, F. H. : 563. 
Hegesippus: 575. 
Heine, Heinrich: 344, 531, 541. 
Helps, A.: 112, 468, 554. 
Hemans, Mrs. : 522, 590. 
Hendyng: 163. 

Henry, Matthew: 324, 337, 563. 
Henry, Patrick: 343. 
Henry, Philip: 562. 
Henry, Prof. : 586. 
Heraclitus: 354. 
Herbert, George: 252, 403, 417, 549, 562, 

586. 



Herbert, Edward: 128. 

Herder, J. G. von: 578. 

Hermes, 524. 

Herrick, Robert: 92, 253. 

Herschel, Sir John: 587. 

Hervey, G. W. : 587. 

Heywood, John: 248. 

Heywood, Thos.: 44, 163, 254. 

Higginson, T. W. : 142, 523. 

Hill, Aaron: 329, 545, 547. 

Hill, Rowland: 342, 545, 566, 579. 

Hillard, G. S.: 53 5, 568. 

Hillhouse, J. A. : 585. 

Hippocrates, 10 1. 

Hitchcock, R. D., 334. 

Hobbes, Thomas: 33, 80, 251, 575. 

Hodge, A. A.: 352, 555. 

Holland, J. G. : 433, 530, 562, 569, 584. 

Holmes, 0. W. : 36, 37, 38, 100, 102, 
434, 469, 535, 549, 566, 587. 

Holt, Sir John: 324. 

Home, Henry: 432, 537, 566, 585. 

Hood, E. P.: 589. 

Hook: 523. 

Hooker, Thos.: 113, 167, 572. 

Hopkins, A. A. : 38. 

Horace: 102, 132, 530, 556, 565. 

Home, Bishop: 340, 419, 541. 

Howe, John: 548. 

Howe, Chas. S. : 296. 

Howell, J. B. : 113, 568. 

Howells, W. D. : 522. 

Howitt, Mary: 548. 

Hugo, Victor: 113, 142, 344, 533, 54** 

557, 585. 
Humboldt, Alex, von: 430. 
Humboldt, W.: 586. 
Hume, David: 57, 342, 394, 542. 
Hunt, Leigh: 575. 
Hunt, Mrs. Mary: 584. 
Hunt, W. M.: 531. 
Hunter, Rudolph M. : 301, 563. 
Huntington, F. D. : 353, 542- 
Hutton, William: 540. 
Huxley, T. H. : 221. 



Ingersoll, R. G. : 174, 393. 

Inglesant, John: 578. 

Irving, Edward: 546. 

Irving, Washington: 523, 524, 559, 560. 

Italian Proverb: 552. 



Jacobi, F. H. : 336. 
Jeffrey: 155. 
Jerome, Saint: 572. 
Jerrold, Douglas: 34, 142, 433, 543. 
Job: 9. 

Johnson: 128, 192, 343, 385, 417, 431, 
533, 534, 537, 543, 561, 562, 567, 570, 

575, 579, 58i. 

Johnson, Sam'l: 35, 36, 37, 102, 114, 

342, 545- 
Jones of Nayland: 545. 
Jonson, Ben: 35, 42, 79, 102, 249, 404. 
Joubert, Jos.: 37, 38, ioi, 114, 128, 132, 

53i, 535, 540, 560, 563, 568, 572, 574, 

576, 585. 

Judge, William Q. : 421, 425. 

Junius: 385, 536, 542, 566, 579- 

Just, Saint: 535. 

Justin: 576. 

Justinian: 567. 

Juvenal: 323, 402, 403, 537, 57*- 



INDEX OF AUTHORS. 



627 



Kansas City Journal: 159. 

Kant, Immanuel: 354, 537. 

Karr, J. a. : 569. 

Keats, John: 43, 555. 

Kemble, Frances Anne: 99. 

Kempis, Thomas a: 112, 163, 545, 559. 

Ken, Thomas : 324. 

Kepler, John: 253, 

Kieffer, J. S. : 370. 

King, Henry Churchill: 121. 



Kingsley, Chas. 
Kirkland, Mrs. : 
Knowles, J. S. 
Kossuth, Louis: 
Kozlay : 572. 
Krishna: 573. 



192, 3,42, 342. 
556. 
79- 
336, 562, 574- 



Laboulaye, E. R. L. : 561. 
Lacordaire, J. F. : 534. 
Lacretelle, J. C, D. : 522. 
Lactantius: 594. 
Lamartine, A. De: 524, 561. 
Lamh, Chas.-. 112, 191, 537, 

578. 
Lamennais, H. F. R. de: 524, 
Landon, L. E. : 540, 5.50, 577. 
Landor, W. S. : 191, 523. 567, 
Langford, J. W. : 191. 
Laugdale, Lord : 524. 
La None: 538. 
Laplace : 338. 
Latena : 429. 
Lavater, J. C. : 33. 34. "2, 

55o, 553, 564, 584, 588. 
Lavis, De: 578. 
Le Bas, Prof. : 72. 
Lee, Nathaniel: 325. 544- 
Lees, Thomas: 401. 
Leibnitz, G. W. von: 377. 
Leighton, Archbishop: 534, 
Lessing, G. E. : 53L 538. 
L'Estrange, Roger: 580. 
Lewes, G. H. : 432. 
Liddon, H. P.: 569- 
Lilly, "William: 534- 
Lincoln, A.: 457, 575. 589- 
Literary Digest : 438. 
Livy: 553. 569- 
Lloyd, W. : 574. 
Locke, John: 557, 569. 572. 
Lockhart, J. G. : 571. 
Logan, J. M. 337- 
Logau, Fred, von: 101. 
Londsberg, Leon, 83, 84. 238, 

307, 321, 465- 
Longfellow, Henry "W. : 38, 

191. 356, 537, 544, 545, 548, 

581, 589, 592, 593- 
Lovelace, Richard: 253. 
Lovell, Maria: 100. 
Lover, Samuel: 540. 
Louis the Eleventh: 580. 
Lowell, J. R. : 37, 38, 100, 

355, 419, 564, 566, 587, 589. 
Lucan : 548. 
Luther, Martin: 402, 534, 560, 



566, 568, 

561. 
588. 
578. 



342, 534, 



539, 544- 



577, 585. 



280, 291, 

100, 114, 
559, 561, 



102, 112, 
56i, 579- 



Macaulay, Thos. B. : 38, 46, 144, 524. 

531, 59i. 
Macdonald, G. : 590. 
Macduff, John: 592. 



Machiavelll, N. : 592. 

Machol, Rabbi M. : 415. 

Mackay, Chas. : 396, 554. 

Mackintosh, Sir J.: 114, 570, 587. 

Maclaren, A. : 402. 

Madden: 486. 

Magoon, E. L. : 549. 

Mahomet: 434. 

Maintenon, Madame de: 543. 

Malesherbes, C. W. L. : 418. 

Mallet, P. H,: 468, 557, 

Mandeville, Sir John: 67, 68, 71. 

Mann, Horace: 403, 560, 561, 563, 584. 

Manton: 548. 

March, D. : 590. 

Marlowe, Christopher: 167, 404. 

Marsh, Prof.: 44, 51. 

Martial: 112, 577. 

Martineau, James: 337, 377, 593. 

Martyn, John: 566. 

Marvell, Andrew: 323. 

Mason, J.: 340, 356, 431, 567. 

Massillon, J. B. : 338. 

Massinger, Philip: 250, 590. 

Mather, Cotton: 565. 

Matthews, C. J.: 108. 

Matthews, William: 41, 89, 570. 

May, Thomas: 574. 

Mazzini, Guiseppe: 417, 543, 573, 577- 

Mcintosh, Maria: 536. 

McMahon, Father: 397. 

McPherson, James, 535. 

McVicar, John : 384. 

Mc Williams, T. S. : 426. 

Melmoth, William: 544. 

Melville, Henry : 565. 

Menander : 546. 

Mencius: 547. 

Mercier, Alfred: 113. 

Middleton, Bishop: 570, 590, 

Mill, John Stuart: 551, 558. 

Milner, James: 578. 

Milton, John: 72, 79, 88, 101, 113, 143, 

285, 369, 403, 535, 547, 574, 586, 588. 
Mirabeau, H. G. R. : 563- 
Mitchell, Charles Bayard: 378. 
Mitchell, D. G. : 552. 
Moffett, Cleveland: 257. 
Mogridge, G. : 34. 
Moliere, J. B. P.: 584- 
Monk : 432. 
Montaigne, M. E. : 58, 114, 132, 536, 543, 

544, 570. 
Montalembert, C. F. : 576. 
Montesquieu, C. de S. : 92, 568, 584- 
Montgomery: 356, 419, 589- 
Montrose, Marquis of: 289. 
Moody, D. L. : 434. 
Moon: 109. 

Moore, Thomas: 355, 4*8, 584- 
More, Hannah: 533, 587, 592. 
Morell, Sir Charles: 554. 
Morgan, Y. P.: 388 
Morning Star: 429. 
Morny, De: 578. 
Morris, Geo. K. : 168. 
Moser, Justus: 552. 
Motherwell, Wm. : 112, 555- 
Moy, De: 580. 
Muller, Max: 35, 57- 
Muloch. Dinah M. : 101, 524, 525. 
Munger, T. T. : 352, 547- 
Murphy: 163. 
Musset, Alfred De: 577. 
Mutchmore, S. A.: 568. 
Myers, Gustavus: 461. 



628 



BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



Napoleon: 142, 352, 535, 556, 561, 563. 

575, 590, 593- 
Necker, Mad. : 402. 
Nepos, Cornelius: 592. 
New Century Path: 425. 
New Jersey Journal: 215. 
New York Commercial Advertiser: 202. 
New York Sun: 309. 
Newton, Sir Isaac: 27, 128, 325, 337, 

55o, 566. 
Newton, John: 341, 418, 592. 
Niebuhr, B. G. : 576. 
Nisbet, Chas. : 57. 
Nome, Bishop: 581. 
Norris, John: 325. 
Nott, E.: 533- 
Novalis: 377, 431, 540.. 



O'Reilly, J. B. : 355. 
Osgood, Frances: 58. 
Otway, Thomas: 325, 563. 
Ouida: 564. 

Overbury, Sir Thomas: 102. 
Ovid: 162, 369, 549, 565- 
Owen, J. : 402. 
Oxenstiern, Axel : 582. 



Paine, Thomas: 424, 429, 584. 

Paley, William: 418, 570, 576. 

Palmerston, Lord: 128, 468, 550, 576. 

Parker, Theo. : 446, 563, 570, 591. 

Parke, Sir A. : 340. 

Parkhurst, Henry M. : 291. 

Parnell, Thomas: 329. 

Parr, Samuel : 370. 

Parton, James: 556. 

Pascal, Blaise: 132, 334, 337, 352, 369, 

377, 55i, 556, 569, 564. 574, 592. 
Paxton, W. M. : 563. 
Payson, Edward: 569. 
Peel, Sir R. : 534. 
Peele, Geo. : 248, 
Pelham, Bishop: 580. 
Penn, Win. : 112, 35s, 544, 566, 577. 
Percival, J. G. : 38, 534. 
Periander: 593. 

Perry, Thomas Sargent: 195. 
Pestalozzi, J. H. : 565. 
Peterborough: 355. 
Petrie, Prof. Flinders: 235. 
Phaedrus: 79, 571. 
Phelps, A.: 275. 
Philadelphia Press: 393. 
Philip II: 587. 
Phillips, Wendell: 446, 534, 547, 555. 

560, 584. 
Pickard, J. L. : 433. 
Pier: 163. 
Pierre, Saint: 577. 
Pinckney, C. C. : 92. 
Pitt, William: 552. 
Pittacus: 589. 
Plato: 38, 112, 192, 402, 403, 531, 536, 

544, 554, 569. 
Pliny: 533, 549, 562. 
Pliny, the Younger: 91. 
Plumer, W. S. : 571. 
Plutarch: 57, 342, 356, 481, 556, 569, 

584- 
Poincelot, A. : 468, 575. 
Polk, Wm. M. : 400. 
Pollok, Robert: 522, 537, 585. 
Pomeroy, Chas. S. : 391. 
Pomfret, John: 326. 



Pope, Alexander: 34, 93, 101, 113, 377* 
385, 4i7, 538, 541, 542, 546, 550, 560, 
561, 562, 577, 579, 589, 593- 

Pope, Walter: 324. / 

Porson, Richard : 42. 

Porter, Jane: 128, 385, 574- 

Porter, Noah : 369. 

Porteus, Beilby: 338. 

Powell, Sir John: 324. 

Prime, S. I. : 583- 

Prince, J. C. : 582. 

Prior, Matthew: 108, 326, 570, 593. 

Propertius, 554. 

Proverb: 114. 

Proverbs: 163. 

Publius Syrus: 576. 

Pythagoras: 468, 481. 

Quarles, Francis: 35, 91, 252, 352, 353, 
354, 417, 481, 546, 564. 

Queen Elizabeth: 112. 

Quesnel, Pasquier : 594. 

Quetelet, M. : 56. 

Quincy, Josiah : 340. 

Quintilian: 80, 104, 529, 575. 



Raleigh, Sir Walter: 166, 434. 

Ramsay, A. M. : 536. 

Ray, John: 35. 

Reade, Charles : 570. 

Realf , Richard : 243. 

Reid, Whitelaw: 494. 

Reynolds, Bishop: 356. 

Reynolds, Sir J.: 33, 554, 559, 591. 

Rhodes, A. : 581. 

Richter, Jean Paul: 128, 146, 417, 434, 

522, 524, 533, 539, 544, 546, 555, 556, 

562, 564, 567, 570, 579, 589. 
Riley, James Whitcomb: 485. 
Ritchey, G. W.: 277. 
Rivarol: 57, 142, 541, 546, 559, 577. 
Robertson, F. W. : 34, 37, 341, 404, 418, 

433, 468, 561, 589. 
Robespierre, Memoirs: 215. 
Roche, Sir Boyle: 215. 
Rochefoucauld, Francis Due De: 79, 

132, 322, 417, 430, 533, 547, 550, 553, 

553, 558, 567, 580, 581, 587, 594. 
Rochester, Earl of: 324, 553. 
Rogers, Samuel: 556. 
Rojas, Francisco: 559. 
Rollin, Ledru: 585. 
Roscommon, Earl of: 34, 35, 324. 
Rousseau, J. J.: 80, 468, 543, 555, 568, 

591- 
Rowe, Nicholas: 329, 561, 571. 
Ruckert, Frederick: 594. 
Ruffini, G. : 544, 582. 
Rumbold, Richard : 324. 
Rumford, Eenjamin: 541. 
Ruskin, John: 94, 337, 355, 404, 530, 

536, 540, 563- 
Russell, Lord John: 114. 
Russell, Thomas: 353. 
Rutherford, Samuel: 419, 541. 
Rutter, J. : 563. 



Saadi: 575, 578. 
Sala, G. A.: 91, 558. 
Sample. R. F. : 540. 
Sand, George [Amantine Lucile Aurore 
Dupin] (Madame Dudevant) : 575. 
Sangster, Margaret E. : 484. 
Sannazaro: 113, 572. 



IND£X Of AUTHORS. 



62Q 



Saurin: 93, 57a. 

Saunders, F.: 113, 554. 

Scargill, W. P.: 468. 

Schafer, L: 522. 

Schaff, Philip: 536. 

Scheie de Vere, M. : 215. 

Schlegel, W. von: 352, 531. 569. 

Schliermachaer, F. E. D. : 584. 

Schiller, J. C. F.: 527, 531, 538, 567, 
574. 576, 587- 

School Bulletin: 215. 

Schopenhauer, A.: 352, 430, 531. 

Schulz, F. 577. 

Scipio Africanus : 568. 

Scott, Sir Walter: 338, 545, 546, 585. 

Sedley, Sir Charles: 324. 

Seed, Jeremiah: 585. 

Selden, John: 251, 553. 

Senacour, E. P. de: 377, 593. 

Seneca: 57, 58, 128, 142, 164, 191, 403, 
536, 537, 545. 549, 55*, 560, 561, 57©, 
579, 587, 594- 

Senn, J. P. : 344. 

Seudera, M. de: 542. 

Seume, J. G. : 563. 

Seward, W. H. : 457. 

Sewell, George: 556. 

Shaftesbury, Earl of: 57, 591. 

Shakespeare, Wm. : 6, 34, 35, 36, 37, 
41, 88, 93, 102, 112, 114, 128, 142, 
164, 177-185, 190, 203-212, 225-233, 
354, 395, 402, 403, 417, 418, 430, 432, 
446, 525, 537, 538, 539, 543, 548, 552, 
553, 554, 56o, 561, 568, 569, 570, 572, 
574, 575, 576, 578, 579, 582, 585, 587, 
59i, 592, 593- 

Shedd, W. G. T. : 394. 

Shee, M. A.: 576. 

Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham: 325. 

Shelley, P. B. : 38, 102, 344. 53i- 

Shenstone, Wm. : 37, 547, 564- 

Sheridan, R. B. : 560, 578, 586. 

Shields, C. W.: 339- 

Shipley, W. D.: 370. 

Shirley, James: 253, 567. 

Shutter, Marion D. : 409- 

Sidney, Sir P.: 79, 167, 384, 385, 395, 
481, 536, 537, 538, 54i, 549, 553, 55$, 
583, 593- 

Sieyes, Abbe: 446. 

Sigourney, Mrs.: 522, 524, 586, 591. 

Simmons, C. : 92, 142, 377, 522, 533, 
563, 564, 566, 570, 575, 581. 

Simms, W. G. : 468. 

Sinclair, George: 551. 

Sismondi, J. C. S. : 590. 

Skobeleff: 535. 

Smiles, S. : 394, 43*, 434, 562, 588. 

Smith, Albert: 541- 

Smith, Alex: 100, 354, 555, 589. 

Smith, Homer J.: 390. 

Smith, E. 0.: 355- 

Smith, Horace: 191, 552. 

Smith, Sam'l F.: 99- 

Smith, Sidney: 44, 128, 344, 55*- 

Socrates: 34. i I2 » l 4^ 429, 432. 

Solomon : 34, 434- 

Solon: 538. 

South, Robert: 340, 342, 395, 43 2 , 547. 
548, 565, 572, 592. 

Southerne, Thomas: 325, 57°. 

Southwell, Robert: 164. 

Southey, Robert: 86, 108, 534, 576. 

Spadara, Marchioness de: 522. 

Spanish Proverb: 523. 

Spencer, Herbert: 7, 527. 

Spenser, Edmund: 79, 166. 



Sprat, Thomas: 341, 545. 

Spring, S. : 534. 

Spurgeon, 0. H. : 36, 355, 356, 468, 547, 

557, 558, 562. 
Spurzheim, J. G. : 540. 
St. Bernard: 355, 434. 
St. John, Henry (Viscount Boling- 

broke) : 329. 
St. Just: 535. 
Stanford, C. : 420, 561. 
Staniford: 101, 
Stanislaus, L. : 337, 433, 559. 
Stanley, A. P. : 536. 
Steele, Sir Richard: 326, 539, 565. 
Stendhal, M. H. : 591. 
Sterling, J.: 142, 542, 552. 
Sternac: 539. 
Sterne, Lawrence: 402, 538, 544, 345, 

579- 
Stewart, Dugald: 35. 
Stewart, Jane A.: 129. 
Still, Bishop John: 165. 
Stillingfleet, Bishop: 589 
Stowe, C. E. : 128. 
Stowe, Mrs. H. B.: 553, 57*. 
Stretch: 541. 
Strickland, Agnes: 580. 
Strong: 333. 

Suckling, Sir John: 252, 567. 
Sumner, Charles: 542. 
Swedenborg, Emanuel: 419. 
Swetchine, Mad.: 417, 584, 590, 592. 
Swift, Dean: 38, 79, 113, "4. 215, 326, 

536, 539, 549, 566. 
Swing, David: 584. 
Syrius, Publius: 417, 572. 



Table Talk: 243. 
Tacitus: 92, 581. 
Taine, H. A. : 275, 588. 
Talfourd, T. N. : 468, 559, 587. 
Talleyrand, P. A. A. de: 113, 431, 544, 

571, 574- 
Tallmadge, T. De Witt: 522, 548. 
Tancred: 554, 577. 
Tasso: 568. 
Taylor, Bayard: 576. 
Taylor, Isaac: 570. 
Taylor, Jeremy: 112, 128, 147, 4*4, 

430, 446, 468, 545, 563, 586. 
Temple, Sir W. : 128, 323, 588. 
Tenny, H. M. : 387- 
Tennyson, Alfred: 100, 113, 523, 573, 

579- 
Terence: 385, 562. 

Thackeray, Wm. Makepeace: 108, 468, 
~S36, 537, 548, 577, 588. 
Thales: 562. 
Themistocles: 446. 
Tholuck, F. A. G. : 576. 
Thomson, E. : 586, 592. 
Thomson, James : 569. 
Thoreau, Henry: 57, 93, i°a, 355, 4**» 

Thrall, Mrs.: 568. 

Thwing, Chas. F. :. 115 

Tiberius: 578. 

Tillotson, Archbishop: 34, 104, 337, 

402, 431, 434- 
Tillotson, John: 324. 
Tingley, Katherine: 424, 425. 
Tinsley's Magazine: no. 
Towson: 586. 
Trapp, J.: 377- 
Trench, R. C. 35- 



630 



BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 



Tuckerman, H. F.: 385, 555- 

Tupper, Martin Farquhar: 100, 276, 

537. 548, 583, 585- 
Turgot, A. R. J.: 576. 
Tusser; Thos. : 163, 539. 
Twain, Mark: 13, 557. 
Tyndall, John 567. 



Undine: 146. 
TJre, Andrew: 582. 



Valera, Juan: 354. 

Van Dyke, H. J. : 339. 

Van Dyke, J. C. : 13. 

Van Ense: 585. 

Varle: 575. 

Vaughan, Henry : 322. 

Vauvenargues, L. O. de: 114, 369, 550, 

564- 
Venning, Ralph: 58, 334. 
Villefre: 468, 587. 
Villiers, George : 567. 
Vinet, Alexander R. : 337, 584. 
Virgil: 587. 

Voice of the Silence: 425. 
Volney, Constantino F. : 580. 
Voltaire, F. M. A. de: 38, 57, 113, 430, 

540, 541, 573, 576. 
Von Knebel: 586. 
Von Logan, Fred.: 101. 



Wadsworth : 589. 

Walker, J. B. : 403. 

"Walker, William: 323, 394. 

Waller, Edmund : 284. 

Walpole, Sir Robert: 328. 

Walton, Isaak: 43, 251, 542. 

Warburton, Bishop : 370. 

Wardlaw, Ralph: 573. 

Ware, Henry: 142. 

Warren, Wm. F. : 115. 

Warton, Thomas: 77. 

Warwick, A.: 113, 395, 579. 

Washington, Booker T. : 502. 

Washington, George: 334, 338, 433, 

558, 568, 583, 
Washington Post: 160. 
Watson, Thomas: 540. 
Watts, Isaac: 328, 369, 394, 555, 582. 
Wayland, H. L. : 546, 552. 



34, 341, 344, 



Webster, Daniel: 338. 
Webster, John: 254, 356. 
Webster, Noah: 35. 
Wendte, C. W.: 590. 
Wesley, C. : 590. 
Wesley, John: 395, 558. 
Wessenburg, I. H, K. : 132. 
Whately, Archibishop : 

355, 432, 546, 550, 557, 573, 578, 579, 

589, 590, 
Whewell, William: 555. 
Whipple, E. P.: 36, 42, 147, 192, 538. 
White, Henry C. : 505. 
White, H. K. : 147. 
White, Hugh : 572. 
White, Laura Rosamond: 
Whitman: 430. 
Whitney, Wm. D.: 42. 
Whittier, J. G. : 99, 583. 
Who's Who: 95. 
Wicklif, John: 67, 72. 
Wigglesworth, Edward: 586. 
Wilcox, Carlos: 112. 
Wilkins, John : 590. 
Willett, Herbert L.: 357. 
Willis, N. P.: 468, 529, 560, 569, 574, 

582. 
Willmott, R. A.: 142, 191, 535, 536, 

538, 583, 59i. 
Wilson: 33. 
Wilson, Bishop: 419. 
Wilson, Prof.: 531. 
Winthrop, R. C. : 430. 
Wirt, William: 547. 
Wither, Geo. : 250. 
Woodbury, I. : 396. 
Wordsworth, Wm. : 38, 128, 356, 431, 

565. 
Wotton, Sir Henry: 248. 
Wren, 128. 
Wycherly, William: 582. 



Xenophon, 534, 587. 



Young, Edward, 94, 10 1, 113, "8, 14a, 
329, 339, 344, 353, 354, 404, 538, 541, 
547, 568, 580, 586, 588. 

Zimmerman, J. G. : 355, 468, 551, 574, 

588. 
Zorn, Chas. M. : 389. 
Zoroaster : 354. 
Zschokke: 553. 



Symposium 



OF THE 

LEADING PRINCIPLES 

OF 

RHETORIC, MENTAL PHILOSOPHY, MORAL PHILOSOPHY, 

LOGIC, PHILOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGY, AND OTHER 

BRANCHES THAT PERTAIN TO THE 

EXPRESSION OF THOUGHT, 

ANNOTATED AND ARRANGED FOR USE WITH 

IBcst Ubougbts of Best Ubinfters* 



N. B. — The best thoughts of the best thinkers, as set forth in this volume, 
have been classified mostly by the topical method; as " Best Thoughts on Charity," 
" Best Thoughts on Silence," etc., and grouped here and there throughout the work. 
Other groups are entitled " Best Thoughts Amplified," in which each short epigram 
is followed by a longer paragraph quoted from some other author who enlarge* on 
the same idea. Our title page, however, calls for " Best Thoughts Exemplified," and 
it is through the Symposium that we make good our promise in that regard. 

The Symposium consists of the best thoughts of the best thinkers on the basic 
principles of rhetoric, logic, and other literary sciences, and these best thoughts ex- 
pressed as definitions and arranged in logical order constitute the Symposium itself 
an aggregation of " Best Thoughts Classified," or co-ordinated. 

Now when any sentence in the text is marked by a small figure referring to 
the Symposium, the sentence so marked is at once indicated as an exemplification of 
the thought expressed in that part of the Symposium. Thus, the text, while it con- 
tains Best Thoughts Classified, and Best Thoughts Amplified, is itself the meant 
through which the Best Thoughts of the Symposium are Exemplified. 

iRHETORIC 
Is the Science that Treats of Discourse. 

2 Invention — 3 What to say— (The Thought). 
4Style — 5 How to say it — (The Expression). 
^Subject Matter — 7 Objects, sTransactions, ^Description, i<>Nar- 

rative, ^Abstract Subjects, ^Imaginary Subjects, i3Mixed, 

^Unclassified. 
ibManner oe Expression — 1 6 Punctuation, ^Capitalization, 18 Vocabu- 

lary, etc. 



2 BEST THOUGHTS Otf B^ST THINKERS. 

19 Diction — 20 Right use of Words. 

H-Purity — According to the 22 idiom of the language. Must not 

be 23Foreign, 2 *Obsolete, 2 5Newly Coined, 26Unauthorized. 

27Violation of Purity is called 28Barbarism 
^Propriety — ^Suitable to the subject. 
^Precision — 82 Selection of word that means no more and no 

less than intended. 

With reference to any given writer, we may ask, 33Are his words 
on the whole, long or short? ^Simple or 35 a bstruse? Used with 36 pre - 
cision or 37 care lessly? With 38 ea se or ^laboriously ? 40 Vocabulary 
copious or ^restricted? 42 i s he always grammatical? 

o 

i3 A SENTENCE is an assemblage of words making complete sense. 
44 Periodic Sentence does not give complete meaning until the 
close. 

45Loose sentence might be brought to a close before the end, and 
still give complete meaning. 46L oose sentences are not al- 
ways faulty. 

47 A Balanced sentence contains two clauses similar in form and 
usually, 48 contrasted in meaning. 

49 Short sentences give 50 force, 51 sprightliness, 52 animation. 

Any one style of sentence becomes 53 monotonous, if long 
continued. Better study 54 variety. ^Practice reconstruc- 
tion by dividing long sentences into short ones, and con- 
necting short sentences into long ones. 

In constructing sentences, study 

5 6CeEArness, especially by 57 Proper position of the Adverb and 
58 Adverbial Clauses : 59 Proper use of Pronouns ; The 
60 Avoidance of Squinting Construction ; of 61 Ambiguity 
(Double Meaning), and 62 0bscurity. Obtain 

63£mphasis — by proper disposition of 64Subject and ^Predicate 
Maintain 

66Unity — by 67logical connection of ideas; by ^changing subject 
as little «as possible; by 69 not crowding unconnected things 
together; by 70 not hanging one dependent clause upon an- 
other dependent clause ; by 71 not adding supplementary 
clauses after the sentence is expected to close ; and by ^avoid- 
ing parentheses, 73 except when greatly needed. Gain 

^Strength — 75 by omitting redundant words and clauses; 76 D y 
sparing use of " very " etc., 77 by careful selection of connec- 
tives ; as 78 prepositions, ^conjunctions, 80 relative pronouns, 
(the hinges on which a sentence turns,) ; 81 by concluding 
with a 82 strong word or 83 important idea ; 84 by similar con- 
struction, 8? if contrast is involved ; and 86 by an occasional 
climax, 87 if several clauses are used that will permit of such 
arrangement. Secure 



SYMPOSIUM. 3 

ssHarmony — 89b v the prevalence of 90 pleasant sounds and 

91 euphonious words; by 92 adjusting the accents at convenient 

intervals; by ^adapting the sound to the sense; and by 94 care 

in the cadence at the close. 

Of any given author, we may ask, Q 5Are his sentences usually long or 
96short? ^Simple, 98 complex or "compound? iooi nvo lved and ^intri- 
cate, or 192 is the connection of clauses obvious, notwithstanding? i0 3 Does 
he use too many words? ( 104 tautology, ^verbosity, 106 redundancy.) i° 7 Is 
he forcible or i08 wea k? ^Condensed or uodiffuse ? ^Perspicuous or 
* 12 obscure? 113 Technical or "-^conversational ? "^Literal or ii6fig Urat i V e? 
117 If energetic, is it due to 118 strength of 119 feeling, or 120 peculiar choice 
of words? 121 Is he controversial? or 122 didactic? or 123 persuasive? or 
^arbitrary ? or 125 superficial ? or 12 6profound? or 127 monotonous? 
I28lf argumentative, is his reasoning invalid or 130 invalid? 131 Can you 
point out any fallacy? 182 Has he read widely? i 33 Does he quote aptly? 
134 Does he stick to his subject? issDoes he digress? i 3 6Does he seem to 
have a firm grasp of the thought he tries to present? 137 Is he analytical? 
i 38 Does his intellect predominate over his sensibilities, or 139 is his heart in 
his work, also? i40l s he Cynical? ^Pessimistic? "2 Altruistic ? ^Lib- 
eral? ^Radical? 145 Conservative? ^Hopeful? i* 7 Genial? ^Affected? 
149 Sincere? 150 After reading him, do you feel that you know him? 151 Does 
further acquaintance seem desirable? 



152FIGURE — is a deviation from the ordinary sense of the words 
used. 
IBS Simile — is formal comparison, using "like" or its equivalent. 
154 Simile should not be based on resemblance that is 155 too 
near or 156 too remote (far-fetched). 157 Simile should not 
be drawn from strange or uncommon objects. i^Nor from 
low and trivial objects, when the desire is to elevate; 159 nor 
from great and sublime sources, when the desire is to de- 
grade. 160 Simile is inappropriate to very strong passion. 

161 Metaphor — is abridged simile — informal, without 162 "like,"' 
163 " as," or iw " so as." ^Subject to same rules as simile. 
Also, 166 should not be part literal and part metaphorical, 
167 nor have likeness drawn from many sources in same con- 
nection, ( 168 mixed metaphor) ; 169 nor be multiplied to excess ; 
170 nor be carried too far, except where the intent is to pro- 
duce an allegory. 

itiAllegory — 172 is an extended description of one thing under 
the image of another. 173 A long continued metaphor. 
^Parables and 175 fables are akin to allegory. 

176Metonymy — 177 is a change of name, by putting one thing 
for another nearly related — 178 as cause for effect, or the re- 
verse; 179 container for the thing contained; 180 sign for thing 
signified. 



4 BEST THOUGHTS OF BlCST THINKERS. 

181Synechdoche— inputs a part for the whole, i83 0r the re- 
verse. 
184 Antithesis — contrast or opposition. ^Should have similar 
verbal expression — i86 n0 uns contrasted with nouns, ^adjec- 
tives with adjectives, etc. 188 Should be used sparingly, or it 
gives a 189 labored effect. 
iooEpigram — is any sentence remarkable for brevity and point. 

191 Usually contains contrariety. 
192Interrcjation — I93 a sks a question purely for effect, no an- 
swer being expected. 19 *A negative interrogation affirms. 
196 A positive interrogation denies. 
196£xclamation — expressed so as to excite emotion. ^Occa- 
sions to justify exclamation are rare. 
198Apostrophe — i" Addressing the absent as though present; 
200 the dead as though living, 20ithe inanimate as though ani- 
mate. 202 Usually of a passionate character. 
208 Personification — attributes life to inanimate objects. 204 Is 
often used with apostrophe, 205 but is not necessarily the 
same. 206 In personification, objects may be spoken of as 
persons; 2 °7in apostrophe they are spoken to. 208 Gender of 
personal pronouns often effects personification. 
209HyperboeE — is 210 Is done for effect, extreme exaggeration. 
211 and is not intended to be believed. 212 Is used in passion 
as well as 213 in burlesque. 
214Irony — is ridiculing under pretense of praising. 215 Used 
much in scolding, 216 in sarcasm, 21 7in burlesque, ^denuncia- 
tion, 2 * 9 lampoon, 220 invective. 221 Sarcasm, when in verse, be- 
comes 
222 Satire. 
223 Besides the above, there are many figures of minor importance, 
such as 224 Alliteration, a series of words begining with the same letter or 
sound; 225 Paranomasia, words of similar sound but different meaning; 
226 Meiosis, or Litotes, representing an affirmative by its contrary negative ; 
22 7Pleonasm, the use of more words than necessary, ( 228 as in legal docu- 
ments, etc.), 229 but not a fault like tautology, redundancy, and superfluous 
words generally; 230 Ellipsis, omission of a word or words to be under- 
stood in grammatical construction ; 231 Asyndeton, the omission of con- 
nectives ; 232 Polysyndeton, the multiplying of connectives ; 233 Aposiopesis, 
breaking off suddenly without finishing the sentence; 234 Epizeuxis, repeat- 
ing the same word for effect; 235 Epanadiplosis, using the same word to 
begin and end the sentence ; 236 Epanalepsis, repeating the same word or 
clause after intervening matter; 23 7Epanaphora, repeating the same 
phrase at the beginning of successive clauses ; 238 Epanastrope, making the 
end of one clause the beginning of the next; 239 Epanodos, repeating the 
parts of a clause in inverse order ; 240T£ panO rthosis, recalling what has 
been said in order to substitute something stronger; 241 Prosopopoeia, 
which is nearly the same as personification; and 242 Onomatopoeia, the use 
of words that sound like the things they represent, as buzz, whiz, crack, 
»cr«ech, r«ar, hiss, crash, cuckoo, pewee, etc. 



SYMPOSIUM. 5 

In addition to these general properties Style has also 2 * s Special 
properties; thus, 

344Subumity — 246 suitable to a description of sublime objects. 
246 As a state of mind, 247 sublimity is incapable of definition. 
248 We may express or arouse it, however, by referring to 
such conditions as beget that feeling. 249 The contemplation 
of vastness begets sublimity. 250 So, also, power, lawful- 
ness, 252 obscurity, 258 great loudness, and most of all, 254 moral 
greatness. 2 55To be sublime in writing, there must be a 
i66 sublime subject, a ^ vivid conception of the strong points, 
and ^generality of expression, ( 259 that the main thought 
may not be detracted from by unnecessary words.) 

260Beauty — is of many kinds; as ^beauty of color, 262 figure, 
^motion, ^complexity, ^countenance, Amoral beauty. 
Beauty in writing requires 267 Beauty of Subject, and 
268 Beauty of Expression. ( 2 6 9 Not necessarily concise, as in 
sublimity.) 

270Wrr — expresses such relations between ideas as will excite 
271 surprise, but nothing more. 272 Is brief. 

273Pun — expresses unexpected relations between words, 274 not 
ideas. 275 Is an inferior kind of wit; 276 often made tiresome; 
277 but sometimes very effective. 278 Wit and puns have great 
dangers and 279 great advantages. 280 Care is required not to 
lose more than is gained. 

281Humor — is not only funny, but kind; 282 milder than wit; 
283 and may be long-continued. 284 Wit attacks enemies; 
285 humor may be indulged at the expense of friends. 

286SLANG Phrase — unauthorized language ; 287 colloquial expres- 
sion. 288 Lingo. (Of gypsy origin.) 

o 

^VERSIFICATION — is the ^mechanism of Poetry. ^Object, 
to please. 292 Pleases by regularity of vocal impulse. 

298 Rhythm — is the harmonious relation of syllables with refer- 
ence to accent. 

294 Rhyme — 'is the chiming of one syllable with another. 

295 Verse — is a line of poetry. 

296 Stanza — is a number of lines suited together. 
297 Couplet, two successive lines that rhyme. 
298Triplet, three successive lines that rhyme. 
299 Quatrain, is a stanza of four lines. 

sooFoot — is synonymous with & 01 Meter, — the measuring unit of 
the line. 

302 Monometer, a line of one foot. 
303 Dimcter, line of two feet. 
804 Trimeter, line of three feet. 
sosTetrameter, line of four feet. 
sosPentameter, line of five feet. 
8 <> 7 Hexameter, line of six feet. 



6 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

808 The kind of foot depends upon the number of syllables and the 
position of the accent. 

^Iambus — foot of two sylables accented on the second. 
* l0 Trochee — foot of two syllables accented on the first. 
sll Anapaest — foot of three syllables accented on last. 
^Dactyl — foot of three syllables accented on first. 
* ls Spondee — foot of two syllables accented on both. 814 Whole 
lines cannot be made up of spondees. 

These four kinds of feet give rise to four kinds of verse ; viz. : 
SJSIambic, 316 Trochaic, 31 ? Anapaestic, 818 Dactyllic. Six kinds of meter, as 
above, to each kind of verse, produce 319 twenty-four kinds of verse in 
English poetry. All kinds are illustrated in the text. 

52() Blank Verse — has rhythm but not rhyme. 
z21 Mixed Verse — when two kinds of meter are found in the same 
line. 322 Difficult, but sometimes acceptably accomplished. 

828 Some particular forms of stanzas have become celebrated histori- 
cally. 

^^Rhythm-Royal — is a peculiar seven line stanza. 
S25 Spenserian Stanza — contains nine lines peculiarly related. 
* i6 Sonnet — is a stanza of fourteen lines peculiarly related. 

Other kinds are known as 32 ?Short Meter, 328 Long Meter, 
82 »Common Meter, ^Hallelujah Meter, ^Particular Meter, 
etc. 



ZWPOETRY — is the versified expression of such thought and feeling 
as is the product of an * 83 elevated imagination. 

s %*Epic — a heroic poem. 

^Dramatic Poetry — includes ^Tragedy and ^Comedy. . 

SS8 Lyric Poetry — is poetry intended to be set to music. It in- 
cludes MdOdes and ^Sonnets. Odes are ^Sacred ( 342 psalms 
and 343 hymns), 3u Moral, 845 Amatory, (Love songs,) UG Heroic, 
Si7 Comic, ^^Bacchanalian. 

*&Elegy— ^Epitaph — ssiPoetry for a tomb. 

ZttPastoral — rustic poetry, ( 3 53Eclogues, 354 Idyls.) 

3 MDidactic — written for the purpose of instruction. 

356 Satire — ridicules the follies of men. 

& HLampoon — attacks individuals. 



MPROSE COMPOSITION — includes ^Letters, apiaries, 
»6iNews, 2C2Editorials, ^Reviews, 8 64E ssay s, 8«Treatises, 
8 ««Travels, ^History, ^Fiction, ^Discourse. 



SYMPOSIUM. 7 

870MENTAL PHILOSOPHY. 
All the powers of the mind are reducible to three classes, ^Think- 
ing, ^Feeling and ^Willing. Hence the three grand divisions of mental 
attributes, — the ^Intellect, the ^Sensibilities, and the 376 Will. They 
are sub-divided as below, and the part played by each and all will be 
frequently exemplified by references from the text. By these numerous 
examples, the reader will obtain a much clearer understanding of all 
varieties of mental activity, than could be obtained through any formal 
definition of these terms. Therefore the definitions are omitted here, but 
the classification expresses the 377 co-ordinate and 378 subordinate relations 
of these powers. More detail and subdivision could have been introduced, 
but the authors prefer the more 379 forcible prese itation of generalities. 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE LEADING PRINCIPLES OF MENTAL 

PHILOSOPHY. 









p 80 Presentative 381 Perception. 

382Re pr esentative i 383 ° f the Actual. ^Memory. 
Representative .j 3g50f ^ Ideal _ ^imagination. 

38 7 Reflective i 388 Synthetic 389 G eneralization. 

{ 890 Analytic 39iR ea soning. 

- ^Intuitive 3930riginal Conception. 



r 896Cheerfulness, 397 Melancholy. 
8WIn«tinctiv«. J ^Sorrow for loss of friends. 
(^Sympathy. 

[" 4C1 Joy or 402 Sadness, own exaltation. 
| 4 °3Enjoyment of the Ludicrous, the 
^Rational... J ^Wonderful, 405 the Sublime and the 
I ^Beautiful, 407Ri g nt, Conscience. 
[ (408Qpposite is Remorse.) 



*O0 Affections. 



4iOLove, 
( «iHate, 
• • 1 «2Envy, 
( 413 Jealou3y. 

( ^Bodily, 

^Desires < «6Mental, 

> ( « 7 Hope, 

O «8Fear. 

5 (^Motive.. *20Choice ^Execution. ^Relation to others. 
5 J ^Freedom. 
g ( ^Strength. 



8 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

Involved in all these phases of mental action are two special sub- 
jects; viz., 

425 Aesthetics — 426the science of the beautiful. 
427 Ethics — the science of the Right, 428Conscience. 

w>Instinct — is an innate law of action working by 430i m p U lse. 
^Consciousness — a knowledge of what passes in the mind. 
432 Ego. 



LOGIC. 
433Logic — treats of the formal laws of thought. 

434I N tuition — is immediate perception or apprehension. ^Intui- 
tions are the elements of thought. 

436Thought — is the recognition of one thing in or under another. 
There are three processes of thought — 437 conceiving, ^judg- 
ing, 439 reasoning. The products of these processes are 

^Concepts, i41 Judgments, u2 Arguments. 

*&A Concept — 444 is the simplest act of the mind. 

ii5 A Judgment — 446j s the recognition of the 447 congruence or 
448 confliction of two concepts. 

449 Argument — is the derivation of one judgment from other 
judgments. 

A Concept (idea) expressed in language is a i5( >term (word). 

A Judgment expressed in language is a ^proposition (sentence). 

An Argument expressed in language is a 452 Syllogism. 

Concepts, in order to become available, must be embodied in verbal 
signs (words.) These verbal signs constitute language. Therefore, 

^LANGUAGE is the ^product, the ^instrument, and the ^embodi- 
ment of Thought. ^Expression — the communication of 
thought. ^Impression — the reception of thought. 



i59 SClENCE — is knowledge classified. There are two kinds, Direct 
and Reflex. 
40od IR £ C t Science — is the science of objects, of which there are 
two kinds — 

^Physical Science — ^external phenomena, and 
m Mental Science — ^internal phenomena. 
465Refu;x Science — is the Science of Sciences — Logic. 

Reflex Science is of two kinds, 466 Subjective (formal, abstract, pure 
logic), the relation of thought to its object — the logic of Aristotle. 
4e7 0bjective (material, concrete, applied logic), the relation of the object 
to the thought — the logic of Bacon. 



SYMPOSIUM. 9 

468 A Judgment is true when the relation expressed between the sub- 
ject and the predicate corresponds to the reality. ^A Judgment is false 
when the relation expressed between the subject and the predicate does not 
correspond to the reality. 

470 In other words, the criterion of Truth is Congruity. The logical 
basis for this criterion is the self-evident fact that 471 ALL TRUTHS 
HARMONIZE. 

472 /4 Syllogism — contains three propositions: a 473 Major Premise, a 
474 Minor Premise, and a ^Conclusion. 476 The conclusion is 
necessitated by the premises. 

There are four laws of the Syllogism, viz.: 

i. 477 The truth of the premises involves the truth of the con- 
clusion. 

2. 478 The truth of the conclusion does not involve the truth of 

the premises. 

3. 479 The falsity of the premises does not involve the falsity of 
the conclusion. 

4. 480 The falsity of the conclusion involves the falsity of one 
of the premises. 

o 

DEFINITION. 
481 The object of definition is to give precision to thought. 

Definition defined. 

i82 A DEFINITION — is such a description of an object as will 

distinguish it from all other objects. 
483^ Nominal Definition — is a definition of a term. 
i8i A Real Definition — is a definition of a thing. 
&»A Genetic Definition — is a definition exhibiting the mode of 
producing the thing. 

4 «6LAWS OF DEFINITION. 
First. 487 The subject and predicate must be coextensive. 

488 Hence, the simple converse of a definition is true. 
Second. 489 There are no exceptions to a definition. 

490 An exception would invalidate the definition. 
Third. 491 A Definition must be precise. 

492 0mit nothing essential. Contain nothing unessential. 
Fourth. 493 A Definition must be clear. 

494 Else it fails to accomplish its purpose. 
Fifth. 49 5A Definition must not involve the circle. 

496 Predicate must not contain the word being defined. 
Sixth. 497 A Definition must not involve negative or divisive attri- 
butes. 
Seventh. 49 «A Definition must not involve a problematical judgment. 



IO BUST THOUGHTS OF BKST THINKERS. 

499LAWS OF OPPOSITION. 
First. sooThe truth of a Universal implies the truth of its particular. 
Second. 601 The falsity of a universal does not imply the falsity of its 

particular. 
Third. 502 The falsity of a particular implies the falsity of its universal. 
Fourth. 503 The truth of a particular does not imply the truth of its 

universal. 
Fifth. 504 Contraries cannot be both true, but may be both false. 
Sixth. 505 Subcontraries cannot be both false, but may be both true. 
Seventh. ^Contradictories cannot be both true nor both false. 
507 Of any two contradictories, one is true and the other false. 

506A Fallacy — is an invalid intellectual process. 5"09There are 
three classes of fallacies: Assumptions, Sophisms, Aberran- 
cies. 

510 An Assumption — is that which is taken as true without evi- 
dence. 511 May be true or false. 512 Argument containing it is 
invalid, not because the assumption is known to be false, but 
because not known to be true. 5i3To assume an assumption 
false because of its lack of evidence would be as invalid as to 
assume it true. There are many classes of assumption, 
mainly: 514 Non-observation, 515 Prejudice, 5l6 Superstition, 
517 Hasty Generalization, 518 Appearances, 519 Preconceived 
Opinions, 520 Judging by Ourselves, etc. 

°2i A Sophism — is an invalid argument. There are two kinds, 
522 Formal Fallacies and 523 Petitio Principii (begging the ques- 
tion.) Formal fallacies are of several kinds, among them: 
5 24HHcit Process, 525 Negative Premises, ^Undistributed Mid- 
dle, 527 and others too technical to be considered here. Same 
remark is true of the various kinds of Aberrancies. 

528 Aberrancy — is a wandering from the conclusion warranted to 
one not warranted. 



PH1XOLOGY. 
^PHILOLOGY — treats of the origin, history, and construction of 
Language, 530 and the relation of languages to each other. 

^Monosyllabic — said of languages in their earlier stage, when 
all the words consist of but one syllable each. 

^Agglutinative — sssPoly synthetic — ^^Holophrastic — said of 
languages that have developed far enough to form long 
words by joining short ones; or, said of languages that, in 
order to form a word representing a complex idea, join all 
the words representing the simple ideas involved. Sample : 
526 " Amatlacuilolitquitcatlaxtlahuilli," meaning "postage." 
536Literally, " The-payment-received-for-carrying-a-paper-on- 
which-something-is-written." (Mexican Indian dialect.) 



SYMPOSIUM. II 

M Inflected — said of languages that show the grammatical rela- 
tions of words by 538p re fi X es, 539 suffixes and ^infixes. 

The inflected languages are much more highly developed, and yet, 
most of the above named 541 affixes (or inflections) are abbreviations or 
modifications of other whole words, formerly joined on as in agglutinative 
languages. Our own compound words are a relic of that stage of the 
growth of English, and as English is less inflected than most modern 
languages (the grammatical relations being shown by 512 particles and 
^connectives), the secondary or agglutinative stage still persists. Many 
of the 5 4 4p ur itanic names in New England are good examples. 



The following scheme shows the parentage of the English language: 
The Indo-European or Aryan family of languages comprises : 

^Sanscrit — the ancient original language of India. Ceased to be 
spoken at least 300 B. C. 

Mtlndic — such dialects as ^7p a li and 548p ra krit (both dead), 
and 549 Hindi, 550Hindostani, ^Bengali, 552Mahratti, etc. 

btt/rajc — or Persian, including 554 Pehlovi and 555 Parsi. 

556 Celtic — divided into two branches — 

557 Cymric — including 558 Welsh, 559 Cornish, and 560 Armorican. 
^Gaelic — including 562 Erse (Irish), 563 Scotch, and 564 Manx. 

MSItalic — 566 a ncient Latin; from which are 567 Italian, 568 Spanish, 
^Portuguese, 5 ?0French, 57iWallachian, and 57 2Romarese 
(Swiss). 

^Hellenic — 574 ancient Greek, ^Modern Greek, 576Albanian. 

^Teutonic — 578 ancient Gothic. Modern Teutonic is divided into two 
groups — 

^Scandinavian — 580Danish, 581 Swedish, ^Norwegian, ^Ice- 
landic. 

68 *Germanic — 585 High German, ®>§Low German, from which — 
587 Hollandish, or Dutch, and 
588Anglo- 589 Saxon, combined into 

^ENGLISH. 

^Slavonic — includes 59 2Russian, ^Bulgarian, 594 Illyrian, 595 Polish, 
5 9 6Bohemian, 597L usa tian, 698L e ttish, 599Li t h uan ian, and eoooid 
Prussian. 

This entire group of languages is called by some authors ^Indo- 
European, for geographical reasons. By others it is called 602 Japhetic, 
from Noah's youngest son, and by others it is called 603Aryan, from an an- 
cient country in Central Asia, called Arya, supposed to be the starting 
point of migration. 



12 BEST THOUGHTS OF BEST THINKERS. 

A full classification of Philology embraces about 60 *fourteen hundred 
languages that are or have been spoken in the Eastern Hemisphere, and 
something over 605 twelve hundred Indian dialects in the Americas. The 
latter are extremely holophrastic, as seen in our Indian Geographical 
names; e. g., 606 Alabama, Here-still-I-stand. 607 Manitoba, (Manitou Ba), 
Spirit-of-the-lake. An extreme example is the Aztec word for " postage " 
cited above. 



ANTHROPOLOGY. 
«0M N THROPOLOGY — the science of man, embraces 

609Somatology — (the GioBiology of man) which treats of man 

as an animal. 
GilPsYCHOLOGY — the science of the soul. (Mental and Moral 

Philosophy.) 
612Ethnology — which treats of man as engaged in the arts of 
life, and embraces 

6l3The Art of Society, 

«l*The Art of Religion, 

6 15 The Art of Language and Literature. 

Two special branches of Anthropology have been widely developed; 
viz., 

^Theological Anthropology — as distinguished from Physiolog- 
ical, and 
^Criminal Anthropology — which discovers the conditions that 
that induce crime. 

Theological Anthropology has been developed under three phases,— 
6 18 Augustinianism — asserts that man is morally dead. 
GWSemi-Pelagianism — asserts that man is morally sick. 
M°Pelagianism — asserts that man is morally well.. 

The Augustinian view supports Protestantism. So, Calvinism is re- 
vived Augustianism, and Arminianism is revived Semi-Pelagianism. The 
controversy is waged entirely upon grounds of logic. 



MORAL PHILOSOPHY, OR ETHICS. 
mgTHICS — is the science of human duty. Duty, as viewed by the 

light of 622 en vironment, is the essence of Ethics; and 
«23Character — being inseparably connected with the discharge 

of duty, is therefore dependent upon Moral Philosophy for 

its abstract qualities. 
624 Duty — presents three phases: — 

625Duty to ourselves, 

626Duty to others, and 

627Duty to God. 



SYMPOSIUM. 13 

628Duty — is composed of three elements: — 
M&Love — the source of Duty, 
t&QGood — the result of Duty, and 
MiRight — the method of procedure. 

We can discharge no duty without feeling inherently all three of these 
qualities. In other words, all action has a direction as well as a source 
and an end. All perfect moral action proceeds from Love as its source, 
to Good as its end, and this procedure has the attribute of Righteousness, 
or rectitude. 

These three elements of duty are so intimately related that the exis- 
tence of one practically necessitates the others. They are the three forms 
in which duty is seen when viewed subjectively, objectively, or abstractly. 
When we contemplate an act, our conscience notes the presence or absence 
of these three qualities, and approves or disapproves accordingly. The 
approval of conscience is a conjoint act of both the Intellect and Sensi- 
bilities. The pain resulting from a disapproval of conscience is the 
most depressing emotion, and is called ^^Remorse. The pleasure re- 
sulting from the approval of conscience, though not so intense as some 
other forms of pleasure, is the highest form of joy or happiness. 



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